School’s out

By Dylan Fremlin

Feb. 26, 2016

When an elementary school floods due to a broken water main the only thing the students hear is “No school tomorrow!”

That’s what happened on Feb. 22 at Sandwich West public school in LaSalle. A water main located beneath the school burst and flooded the school.

While the students celebrated getting the day off school, the school board focused on getting to work on cleaning up the issue. The GECDSB called Winmar on this occasion.

Winmar is a restoration company open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That means that Winmar employees are on call at all times.

“We got the call later in the afternoon (on Monday) and we worked until 11 o’clock that night,” said Rob VidAmour, owner of Winmar. “Then we had as many men on the job as possible the next day.”

While another contractor was busy bypassing the break in the water main, the GECDSB notified staff and students that the school would not be open on Feb. 23. The school board sent out automated messages to the homes of every staff member and student. They also notified the same group of people updates would be available the next day through the school website and radio updates. The school board also sent employees to aid Winmar’s employees with the clean-up. No permanent damage was done to the school.

“There was no damage that could not be repaired,” said Scott Scantlebury, head of public relations for GECDSB. “There are some things that will require some further work replacing drywall in some places and maybe a few tiles.”

Although nobody is sure about the cause of the break yet, the most common cause of a break in a water main is external corrosion of the pipe. This can result from extreme weather changes which cause excessive pressure on the water mains. The pressure causes any pipe that is weaker than it should be to break.

VidAmour said there is a temporary line installed under the school until they are able to find the location of the break.

“We don’t know where the break is just yet,” said VidAmour. “So really there is just a temporary line going into the school right now.”