Some Christchurch schools will be closed tomorrow Wednesday.

Shirley Intermediate will remain closed tomorrow due “to the need to drain flood water at the school and ensure access to the classrooms.”

Overloaded local sewers have caused sewage to discharge into some of the school’s buildings and across large parts of the outdoor areas. “Once the rain stops and the drains start working again we have a big cleaning and disinfection job to do to make the school safe again. The school will be closed on Wednesday to allow this work to happen.”

Due to major flooding and serious drainage issues, the decision has been made to close Mairehau High School again tomorrow. “We will reopen for all students on Thursday. Students will be able to access learning through their subject sites and google classroom.

Shirley Primary School said “the amount of rain certainly had an impact around the back of the Mahuri block and towards Riselaw Street today.

Thankfully the drainage on the Shirley Road side of the school worked well and provided a safe entry and exit point.

We will reassess conditions in the morning and update everyone via Facebook and email should there be any issues.”

Hillmorton High School closed today because of flooding, but the school would be open on Wednesday.

In a statement it said “much of the water has now dissipated and we are looking at additional pumps, to drain more water away from the quad area.

Tomorrow we will be open, but we encourage students to come in non-uniform. If possible, wear your gumboots and bring shoes or slippers or thick socks to wear inside.

Wear your school jacket or another rain jacket or coat to keep dry when moving from block to block.”

Christchurch Girls High School was forced to close today because of flooding.

In a statement, the school said initially it was only looking to relocate classes from the ‘Island’ (S Block) and school would have run as normal.

“But significant flooding occurred very rapidly in the areas of L Block, R Block, E Block and the Gym and pathways between those blocks became 15 cm deep in water in the space of 30 minutes. It turns out that this flooding was largely caused by the water main that feeds Mona Vale bursting.

The Christchurch City Council shut off the water main and were repairing the damage. This will take a number of days and will prevent student’s using the bike stands.”

The school was “planning to be fully onsite tomorrow (other than S Block classes being relocated).

“We will assess the situation early tomorrow morning and send a text message confirming that we are onsite at 7.00am.”

Despite having a large diesel pump pumping water for 5 hours today, Harewood school continues to have considerable surface flooding at school.  “At 3pm our sewer alarm activated indicating we now also have sewerage issues Safe access to Whatutoto is currently not possible and water continues to flow restricting access to some areas of the school. Due to health and safety concerns, Harewood School will be closed on Wednesday.

Under the advice of the Ministry of Education, we will be closed on Wednesday 27 July as further assessments and repair work is carried out.

Chris Lynch is a journalist, videographer and content producer, broadcasting from his independent news and production company in Christchurch, New Zealand. If you have a news tip or are interested in video content, email chris@chrislynchmedia.com

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