Hundreds of Abbotsford, B.C., students displaced as flood damage closes schools
Eight-year-old Reid Pemble misses his friends.
He misses his school.
“He loves his classroom and his teacher," explained his mom, Megan Pemble. “It’s tough not seeing his friends in the usual routine.”
Reid is one of about 300 students displaced after two Abbotsford, B.C., schools shut down because of flooding damage.
Reid is a student at Upper Sumas Elementary where the district said several feet of water poured into the building. The other school that’s closed is Barrowtown Elementary.
The flooding left the Abbotsford School District scrambling to find a way to get kids back to class.
It took a lot of juggling.
“We’ve got classroom spaces all around the district that we’ve set up temporarily and they’re doing quite well so far,” explained superintendent Kevin Godden. They hope to have the students all together in the same place in the new year.
Some students from Barrowtown Elementary are being taught in space offered by a Chilliwack church, which is closer to their homes. Other students are learning remotely.
The other challenge the district has faced is staffing.
Godden said about 250 Abbotsford School District staff live in Chilliwack, and highway closures have made getting to work difficult, if not impossible at times.
“We’ve hired a couple of coaches to transport those staff the long way on Highway 7 here every day,” said Godden.
The commute, he said, is two hours each way on a good day. The number of teachers using the bus varies, but as many as 70 have made the commute on any given day. There are a couple pick-up and drop-off locations.
“In addition to that, we have some hotel rooms for staff who are willing and able to stay in the community," Godden added.
Reid’s first day in his “new” class was Tuesday. On Wednesday, flooding kept him at home.
“When we went to check the road this morning, the water was already rushing over Whatcom (Road),” said Reid’s mom.
Meanwhile, Megan Pemble’s older son, who is in Grade 6, is staying with his grandmother.
“He goes to Abby Middle (school) so it wasn’t safe for us to keep travelling back and forth,” Pemble said.
Godden said while damage assessments are still being done, it’s expected it will take four or five months to repair Upper Sumas Elementary. Barrowtown Elementary will open much sooner.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.