A FLASH OF lightning at the Ellerslie Secondary School this afternoon resulted in a hole in the solid concrete roof over a classroom.
No one was injured, Principal Major Errol Brathwaite told the NATION while pointing out that school would be in session tomorrow.
School was dismissed early after the incident around 1 p.m. as the island was under a flash flood watch over some central, northern and north-western areas. Residents and workers hurried indoors as the dark clouds hovered over the country and lightning flashed and thunder boomed.
Brathwaite said the use of the classroom would be suspended until the all clear is given by the technical people.
“Nobody was struck … Because of the weather and we were not sure what was happening we spoke to the ministry and got permission to dismiss just to ensure that everything is okay because we don’t want to have people in an unsafe place,” Brathwaite said.
He explained that after the lightning hit the water tank and caused a disconnection “and the force from that caused a part of the brick underneath to fall out so we are just trying to rectify that”. The water supply of the school was also disrupted.
“Tomorrow will be school as usual. We had some electricians come in from the Ministry of Education and we are going to have some engineers come in to check to make sure everything is sound… If there is any detailed work to be done, they will tell us what we need to do and we will take it from there … But we will continue school except for the use of that classroom until we get the technical advice on how to move forward,” Brathwaite stated. (AC)
