Burst pipes and flooding cause school closure and student relocation

 

Euclide Lanthier elementary school in Aylmer was evacuated Friday morning, June 2, due to flooding in the basement of the building caused by a burst pipe.

The evacuation occurred after a school employee arrived that morning to discover that “it was very hot in my office and the floor was also hot”. She went into the school basement to investigate the cause and discovered the flooding. Immediate action as taken to clear staff and students from the building as a preventative safety measure. Students were relocated to the nearby movie theatre at Les Galeries d’Aylmer. Parents were contacted by telephone and social media. They were asked to pick up their children as soon as possible. Classes and daycare services were cancelled until Wednesday, June 7.

The burst pipe and subsequent flooding caused further damage to the school’s electrical system. As a result, Euclide Lanthier requires major repairs and will be closed for the remainder of the school year.

The Commission scolaire des Portages-de-l’Outaouais (CSPO) received several offers from nearby schools to host the displaced students. Cégep Heritage College (325 boul Cité des Jeunes) was selected by the school board for practical reasons. The college has enough space to host all the students comfortably in an isolated part of the campus. Otherwise, the 550 students, including the special needs classes, would have been dispersed among nearby schools, as was the case with Aylmer’s École du Village this past winter when flooding caused that school to close for repairs.

“Our primary concern is to offer students a safe and welcoming space” said Mr Jean-Claude Bouchard, Director General of the CSPO. All ministerial exams for the students of Euclide Lanthier have been cancelled until further notice.
 (A.R.)