Raw sewage floods Fife classrooms after storm

CUPAR: Early morning text gave parents less than 40 minutes to make alternative care arrangements as primary school forced to close by unpleasant discovery

An emergency school closure due to flooding left many parents high and dry yesterday .

A text alert sent by Castlehill Primary in Cupar arrived just 40 minutes before the start of the school day, forcing many families to find last-minute child care.

Raw sewage was found in classrooms, corridors and even the dinner hall after a deluge on Saturday caused flash floods.

One dad said the playground had been underwater at the weekend and criticised the short notice given.

Acting head Lynn Dyas apologised, saying it had been thought some parts of the building would be useable.

She added: “On arrival this morning at 7.45am it was clear...it would not be appropriate to have children in any part of the school today.”

Raw sewage was found in classrooms and corridors after a school was hit by severe flooding at the weekend.

The dinner hall at Castlehill Primary in Cupar was also affected by Saturday’s flash floods as drains backed up due to the extent of the deluge.

The school was closed to pupils yesterday as a team was drafted in to carry out an emergency deep clean of the building. It will be open today as normal. Acting head teacher Lynn Dyas said in a text message to parents: “Please be advised that Castlehill Primary School is being closed to pupils today due to severe flooding which has taken place over the weekend.

“We will be deep cleaned today and will reopen tomorrow.”

The message was sent at 8.20am, prompting anger from some parents about the lack of notice.

The school sits in the area of town worst hit by Saturday’s flooding following a torrential downpour and one father said the playground had been under water for some time during the evening.

The man, who was forced to work from home due to the last-minute child care crisis, said: “I appreciate staff probably don’t get into school until Monday morning to check for problems.

“But the Castlehill grounds were partially under water on Saturday evening at the height of the storm.

“8.22am is very short notice to make alternative child care arrangements, especially as school buses would already have been en route and many parents would be heading to work.”

Miss Dyas apologised to parents and said everything possible was done to avoid closing the school at short notice.

“We were aware that the school had suffered some flooding but initial reports led us to believe we could continue to open as normal by using different parts of the building,” she said.

“However, on arrival this morning at 7.45am it was clear that due to the nature of the flooding it would not be appropriate to have children in any part of the school today.”

She said steps had been taken to get an official closure in place and that had gone out at 8.18am.

Sandbags were placed at the entrance to the school in Ceres Road as heavy rain blocked drains and turned the road into a river.

The road was closed for several hours as firefighters pumped water away from the scene.

Castlehill Primary School in Cupar was closed after heavy rain caused flooding.

Picture: Dougie Nicolson. Castlehill Primary was closed after it became apparent it would not be appropriate to have children in any part of the school.

Specialist cleaners were brought in to tidy up the school after raw sewage seeped into classrooms.