'I miss him so much' The devastated mother whose son, six, was swept away by floods in Canada

During the course of Cop29, the Guardian will present stories online and in print from people on the frontline of the climate emergency. Here, Tera Sisco tells of her experience of floods in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2023

- Tera Sisco

Before the floods, I was always with my boys. Always. I never got a sitter. If I was off on a weekend, I never wanted to let the boys go.

We would do all sorts of stuff together. They always wanted to go swimming. We would skip school and go to the skating rink, which I got in trouble for from the principal. If I didn't get them out of the house, all I would hear was two kids, five years apart, tussling.

They had a strong bond with one another. Alex, who was 11, would let Colton, six, sleep with him, and they would make forts. Alex was younger at heart than Colton was. The age gap helped because Alex was like: "I don't have to grow up so fast." He was still anti-girl, whereas Colton was like: "I'll take all the girlfriends." He was always a charmer.

I live in West Hants, the same rural municipality I grew up in. That day, I knew early on that something wasn't right. All day long, it had thundered. I love thunder and lightning storms, or I should say, I loved them. Colton loved them just about as much as I did.

The storm started around 10am. It'd be light, then it would be intense, and then it would be light. I found it very strange.

Colton was in and out of the house that day. I worked at a group home with people who had physical and mental disabilities, and I had to sleep for a night shift. Colton was at an age where he could entertain himself. His brother was around and capable of watching him.

The rain really started around 7pm, when I came on shift at work. It started raining so hard. I kept checking the radar and it kept saying it was going to end. It never stopped. You wouldn't even have a break between thunder and lightning. You would see lightning and thunder at the exact same moments.