{"id":377,"date":"2018-10-23T09:51:11","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T09:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/floodarchive\/?page_id=377"},"modified":"2020-03-05T11:49:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T11:49:26","slug":"callum-aged-12","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/floodarchive\/flood-narratives\/callum-aged-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Callum aged 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is Callum’s story about what happened to him with some\u00a0key learning points at the end…<\/span><\/h1>\n

Background<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

On the evening of 9th February 2014, after days of persistent rain, seven severe flood warnings (the highest category) were put in place for the River Thames in north Surrey. Residents were evacuated and roads and schools were closed. The Staines area experienced clusters of events involving tidal, river, rainfall and groundwater flooding. These four stories, taken from our \u2018Children, Young People and Flooding: Recovery and Resilience<\/a>\u2019 project, show how flooding can reveal, and even exacerbate, existing social vulnerabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Callum, aged 12, lives with his parents in a council flat.<\/strong> He told us: \u2018We live on the ground floor\u2026. We lost everything\u2019 in the flood. On the day of the flood, the family watched the floodwaters rising and then went to bed. The next morning he said his dad:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2026opened the door to see what was happening and there was all this water sort of coming down \u2026 \u00a0Then we stayed for a little bit, then it went up more, and then it went to the top step and Dad said, \u2018We need to go now. When I say now,<\/u> I mean now<\/u>.’<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Callum and Ben’s model of their flooded street<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The family evacuated to his grandparents\u2019 house, which Callum thought was a better option than the one offered to children who had no relatives living locally and who were forced to move into distant rented accommodation \u2013 some families with children were relocated to such unfamiliar spaces as an army barracks and airport hotels. But living with relatives turned out to be problematic for Callum in various ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

He had difficulty sleeping at his grandparents\u2019 home in a tiny room amongst all of the packing cases and plastic bags that were stacked up to the ceiling full of his family\u2019s belongings.<\/span><\/p>\n