Current:Home > ContactAmerican Climate Video: When a School Gym Becomes a Relief Center -SummitInvest
American Climate Video: When a School Gym Becomes a Relief Center
View
Date:2025-04-13 09:23:00
The seventh of 21 stories from the American Climate Project, an InsideClimate News documentary series by videographer Anna Belle Peevey and reporter Neela Banerjee.
HAMBURG, Iowa—Instead of shooting hoops in the gym, the kids at Hamburg Elementary School had to play outside while their gym was used as a donation center for flood victims in the aftermath of the 2019 Midwestern floods.
Except for Gabe Richardson. The sixth grader spent his time in the gym as a volunteer, and helped flood victims in this town of 1,000 find clothes, toys, cleaning supplies and other staples they needed to start rebuilding their lives. Even little things, like loading cars, made him feel he was making a contribution.
“I love to do it, so I do it,” Gabe said.
He remembers the waters rising quickly. Two feet of snow fell in February and then quickly melted when March brought unseasonably warm temperatures. Then the region was hit with a bomb cyclone, which caused two weeks worth of rain to fall in just 36 hours. Levees broke and flood waters whooshed into Hamburg.
There was no time, Gabe said, for people to box up their belongings. “No one knew it was coming,” he said. “But then … it hit and everybody lost everything. It’s crazy.”
Although extreme weather events like this cannot be directly connected to climate change, scientists warn that a warming atmosphere is causing more frequent and more intense that can lead to severe floods. In Hamburg, the flood was exacerbated by a makeshift levee that could not hold the water back.
“It happened really fast,” Gabe recalled, “faster than we thought, because I was just hoping the water could go out as fast as it came in, but it didn’t.”
veryGood! (933)
Related
- South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
- Montana asbestos clinic seeks to reverse $6M in fines, penalties over false claims
- PHOTO COLLECTION: Election 2024 DNC Details
- Kill Bill Star Michael Madsen Arrested on Domestic Battery Charge
- Tom Holland's New Venture Revealed
- Taylor Swift sings with 'producer of the century' Jack Antonoff in London
- James Taylor addresses scrapped performance at DNC 2024: 'Sorry to disappoint'
- The price of gold is at a record high. Here’s why
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Man shot by 2-year-old at Virginia home in what police call an accidental shooting
Ranking
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- All the Signs Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez Were Headed for a Split
- Western Alaska Yup’ik village floods as river rises from a series of storms
- Stock market today: Wall Street slips and breaks an 8-day winning streak
- Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
- Kentucky meets conditions for lawmakers to cut income tax in 2026
- Democrats turn their roll call into a dance party with celebrities, state-specific songs and Lil Jon
- Olympian Aly Raisman Made This One Major Lifestyle Change to Bring Her Peace
Recommendation
Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
Taylor Swift Shares Eras Tour Backstage Footage in I Can Do It With a Broken Heart Music Video
Starbucks teases return of Pumpkin Spice Latte on social media: When might it come out?
The type of Aventon e-bike you should get, based on your riding style
Travis Hunter, the 2
Judge rejects GOP call to give Wisconsin youth prison counselors more freedom to punish inmates
Trial date set for June for man accused of trying to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh
Subadult loggerhead sea turtle returns to Atlantic Ocean in Florida after rehabilitation