WAUWATOSA — As Dixon Elementary students in Brookfield prepare for their first day of school, their community is rallying behind a man who shows up for them every day.

Custodian James Moore, known to families simply as “Mr. James,” lost nearly everything when August floods swept through his Wauwatosa home.

Moore and his wife escaped as water poured into the basement and climbed onto the first floor.

“We watched the water come up a step. Up a step. Up a step,” Moore said. “When I went to the basement, it was up to my waist.”

The flooding took most of their things, including decades of his wife’s sewing equipment and Moore’s tools and workshop.

After a week in a hotel, the couple moved in with family while their house undergoes major repairs.

“It’s shocking but amazing to see what wate

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