My family lost everything in the little-known flood of Baton Rouge, Louisiana last year that the Red Cross called the “Worst US disaster since Hurricane Sandy.”
It began raining in mid-August. Then it rained some more, got more powerful, and didn’t stop for days. There was talk that the local rivers were going to crest (到达顶点)and cause some pretty serious flooding. We lived somewhat close to the Amite River, but our senior neighbors told us that our neighborhood hadn’t flooded in over 100 years.
Local news said that the nearby high school may get a little bit of water inside from the rising river. We thought we had a couple of days to plan on how we were going to shelter in place because of the weather forecast.
On the 13th of August I woke up, walked outside and headed toward the direction of the river. Some of the lower areas were collecting water but there was no standing water anywhere near my house or even my neighborhood. I went back home and told my wife we should probably get some supplies in case this got serious; that maybe we should even pack a car in case we needed to leave though I was fairly certain there was nothing to worry about.
About 30 minutes into slowly packing there was a loud banging on my front door. It was my wife’s cousin. I opened the door and she said, “What are you doing?! Get out of the house!” I looked behind her and noticed my entire yard underwater and the waterline only about a half-inch from going over my doorstep and into my house.
I was floored. The river wasn’t supposed to crest until the next day. I thought we had more time.
I yelled at my wife, “We have to get out of the house. Now!”
We packed up both our cars in about 10 minutes with only our most precious memories. Everything else we had built during a 10-year marriage was left behind. We evacuated about 5 miles east away from the river to my wife’s grandmothers.
After being there for about an hour someone came to the front door and said, “You guys ned to get out. The river is coming.”
Sure enough, her yard was flooding too.
We evacuated a second time in as many hours to her cousin’s house even further east. After only an hour we were told again that the river was on the way and we had to leave.
【小题1】The author realized the arrival of the flood when ______.| A．the rain started to fall heavily and non-stop |
| B．the nearby high school was slightly affected |
| C．there was standing water in some lower areas |
| D．he was informed by his wife’s cousin at the door |
| A．He was calm enough to cope with the flood. |
| B．He became trapped by the rising floodwater. |
| C．He was shocked by the early arrival of the flood. |
| D．He lost his temper with his wife for being unprepared. |
| A．He didn’t take action immediately despite his neighbor’s warning. |
| B．He trusted the weather forecast so that he prepared himself in advance. |
| C．He and his wife brought some supplies and valuable belongings with them. |
| D．He was forced to leave the temporary homes again and again to avoid danger. |
| A．Mutual Support in Disasters | B．Baton Rouge Flooding |
| C．How to Survive a Flood | D．Methods of Predicting Floods |
