Atlas Patrol were invited to the reopening of one of our local schools after a severe flood had caused a massive amount of damage.The school held a celebration event to officially open the schools’ reopening and refurbishment.

The Mayor officially cut a special rainbow cake, provided by Cake of Chester, to signify the efforts of those involved in the disaster team. He also cut a ribbon to mark the newly refurbished Easedale sixth form centre.
We were alerted to an intruder alarm activation at the site and attended promptly. The response officer discovered the flood whilst undertaking an internal patrol of the school to identify the cause of the alarm.The caretaker was immediately alerted and the water was isolated quickly. Whilst considerable damage had already been caused it has been readily acknowledged that our prompt attendance and discovery reduced the impact considerably.
The alarm was unserviceable but we arranged for alarm engineers to attend and by the end of the day the alarm system was back in service and the site fully protected.We stayed on site most of the day to assist with cleaning up.
The burst storage tank had flooded classrooms, corridors and offices just before the Christmas break, causing up to £400,000 of damage and making sections of the school unusable. Thousands of gallons of water gushed through the school on Graham Road, flooding the school canteen, dining room, computer room and nine classrooms, including 6 science labs. Ceilings were destroyed and water cascaded down stairwells when the storage tanks, feeding the school’s heating systems, burst. Parts of the school were closed for safety reasons and special events such as the school’s Christmas lunch were postponed.

Headteacher Alison Duffy said she remembered the morning of the flood and arriving to a scene of “devastation”. “Thankfully the fire alarm went off and those early warning systems worked and the rest of the school was saved. “The recovery team did a wonderful job from the initial mopping up and clean up works to installing new flooring, lighting, heating and IT systems. Without the community approach to this project we wouldn’t be where we are today. All the damaged areas have been repaired or reconstructed and we have a lovely refurbished school,” she added.