It was very dark outside. The whole building kept ________ in the hurricane. The fire alarm went off and rainwater came in from the roof of the ________ and dripped (滴) down the walls.

Frankie Randazzo, a restaurant owner, came out of his home at sunrise, after ________ the storm with his wife and her dad. Outside, he saw a large ________ that fell on the ground narrowly missed his bedroom. Its branches were everywhere.

The scene is a ________ sight across Lake Charles and the surrounding towns in southwestern Louisiana in the ________ after Hurricane Laura swept through. The storm ________ the Gull Coast as a powerful Category 4 storm, one of the ________ to have ever hit the region.

For Randazzo, and many other people in America, it was the latest ________ in this year. In March, Randazzo had to ________ his restaurants because of the pandemic (流行病). He missed all the big ________       : St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day. Now comes Hurricane Laura!

“My business was shut down and now my home is ________ too,” he sighed. “It’s basically like a(n) ________ movie.”

The recovery would be ________. The health crisis has already left businesses struggling to ________, and tens of thousands of people have been ________ across the state. It will be ________ for most of the people to find a place to ________ during the pandemic.

“However, this storm, or anything else, isn’t going to ________ us down. We’re going to ________ and we’ll be stronger than we were before.”

Jess, a 12- year-old girl, lives in Mallacoota, a small town in Australia. She is one of many children having been through mental _______ and heartbreak in the New Year bush fires.

She _______ the bush fires with fear. “I’ve never been so scared. The sky was turned to blood red, and the embers (灰烬) were _______ all around us. It was much worse than any _______ film.” she said.

Jess, along with her family, spent two terrifying days on the local boat where rsidents stayed for _______ , and it was also a place where _______ could not be broken. Jess and her little companions planned to _______ their community garden and the house for chickens.

One blessing for Mallacoota is that no one _______ their life during the disaster. Roads into and out of the town are beginning to reopen.Wandering alone among the houses _______ to the ground, Jess still managed to find a ________ side and said at least now she would not have to clean her bedroom anymore. In no time she and her companions ________ started to rebuild the community garden and even ________ a family of chickens to the new “home”, making something bad into something good.

It’s a long road back to ________ life. But it is surely ________ if we have the will. As Jess said, “My beloved hometown will ________ again.”