This school wasn't built for the new climate reality. Yours may not be either

On Sept. 1, 2021, 7 inches of rain from the remains of Hurricane Ida hammered down on Cresskill Middle/High School in Bergen County, N.J. Superintendent Michael Burke walks through what's left of the media center. (Mohamed Sadek for NPR)

No one was expecting more than a few flooded cars in the parking lot.

It was Sept. 1, 2021, the second-to-last day of summer band camp at Cresskill Middle/High School in Bergen County, N.J.

After a year and a half of remote and hybrid learning, the school’s 1,000-odd students were about to head triumphantly back to school in person.