“A knock came at the door. I was so scared, I was shaking.” “I saw the neighbor kids in the water, going down and coming back up.” “My mother felt bad. She lost her big Bible.” “I never saw our house after it went, but my father did. The water took it away at nine in the morning. It went floating down the street. The nails fell out and it broke in pieces.” Such words from the lips of children convey the full meaning of the flood tragedy, which struck Connecticut on Flood Friday, August 19, 1955. Such words, too, convey their innate stoicism and courage, their acceptance of the inevitable, and their resilience in the face of danger. Thousands of children in the United States have lived through major floods in the last decade. Not only those in Connecticut and adjoining states, but along the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and in California and Texas, children know what floods mean. This book is for them, and for all those more fortunate children who can share their experiences only through books.
