Brian’s Story

Title

Brian’s Climate Story

Name

Brian

Place

Scarsdale, New York

How are you sensing climate change?

Ever since I was young I was aware of the threat of flooding and detrimental effects it could have on my family and our neighborhood. I remember my father teaching me about a drainage room in our basement and to alert him immediately if the water level in the room was significantly higher than normal. At first the thought of water rising in the basement scared me, but over time the fear faded. However, one day when I was in elementary school Hurricane Sandy came and changed everything.

The downpour had finally gone over the drainage room’s “convincingly high” level, and my basement and had been partially flooded. Couches and carpet had been ruined, but most importantly objects such as family antiques and other “junk” from my childhood had been ruined. Some of these objects may have held little to no monetary value, but they were irreplaceable to me. Not only had my house and some of my neighbors’ basements flooded, but friends’ homes from all over town had flooded as well. Other friends’ flooding was much more severe.

My father has lived in this area almost his entire life, and I remember him telling me how he had never seen such downpour for such a substantial amount of time. He explained that when he was growing up there had been flooding but never this bad, even though the technology of the house structure and water drainage were worse back then. Overall, although this flood had affected me personally, I knew I was still lucky because friends  had been even more severely affected–some lost nearly everything.

How do these changes make you feel?

I was overwhelmed at such a young age by the fact that a storm could change someone’s life within the blink of an eye.