The newspaper headlines claimed that the recent flood was a once-⁠in-⁠a-lifetime event. People in the soggy farm town in Iowa certainly hoped that was true. The Mississippi River knew no banks for two weeks in August. The mess that was left 30 ______ would take an incredible amount of time, money, and energy to clean.

When Dawn and Greg arrived on the bus 31 ______ their grandmother's farm town, they didn't recognize much. They 32 ______ a lot of rubbish, including parts of homes, pieces of furniture, piles of sandbags, and acres of slimy mud. 33 ______ they could even see dead fish that had remained in the mud when the waters receded.

Grandmother was anxious to greet Dawn and Greg and get back to the house to continue the cleaning. Her car had been ruined in the flood, so they 34 ______ the mile to the house.

"Grandma, how badly 35 ______ was your house?" asked Dawn as they slopped through the mud. "Well, the house is still standing, but it is covered with the same kind of slimy mud we're walking in," replied Grandma.

"You mean this mud came through the doors and windows?" asked Greg 36 ______.

"I'm afraid the force of the water and mud broke through the basement windows and filled the house up to the second story with river water, silt and fish," said Grandma sadly.