Home learning again! At least it wasn’t covid this time…
Winds of around 100 mph, rain – lots of rain, and a red weather warning from Jersey Met had our school’s doors shut. On the 1st of November the government of Jersey said that Hautlieu would remain closed during the storm. By Monday the 6th we were informed we would be having classes online until the building was safe to use and a new fire evacuation route was planned. As we know this took another week as the whole school was only allowed back at school on Wednesday the 15th of November, with the Year 12’s.
Minister for Children and Education, Deputy Inna Gardiner, said: “I am hugely grateful to all who have worked so hard following the unprecedented events of the last few days to ensure that our schools can open safely. It has been a huge task and one which has been very well done, with lots of different people involved. Our school communities are strong and the work to ensure the safe opening of the three schools which had to close has been a huge and dedicated effort. The safety of all children, young people and staff within the school communities must be our priority.”
No one could have possibly enjoyed the storm, especially the teams from Infrastructure and Environment, who, are only now, almost 3 weeks later, clearing the smaller less used lanes from fallen trees. Specialist equipment to clear over 400 trees on the Railway walk arrived on the weekend of the 11th of November. Several of our island’s parks were closed for a couple of days after the storm had passed. The airport and Elizabeth terminal were also closed during the storm. These opened later as damage was assessed and restored. It’s safe to say that the storm caused a couple of inconveniences, and with the LRC still closed we’ll have to be patient and use the other available areas while studying within school.
No wonder the government advised us to stay home. Sadly, this wasn’t possible for everyone as some families were relocated for the storm time, with around 35 staying in hotels. There are some families who are waiting to be rehomed, as the storm caused severe damage to their houses. 3 islanders were taken to A&E, luckily, they were in stable condition by Friday morning. However, it wasn’t only Jersey that was affected; across the UK, 134 alerts were sent out to warn people of flooding risks. Unfortunately, across the 7 countries the storm and tornado crashed through 21 people lost their lives. Some of these due to falling trees and flooding. Alongside the human fatalities, Jersey Zoo announced that one of their flamingoes had died due to the storm.
Written by Leah Davies – Year 12.
