ST MARY, Jamaica — The high turnout of students on Monday breathed new life into Port Maria Infant School, which had been virtually deserted since February 1 when a massive flood inundated the entire coastal town of Port Maria.

Principal Carvelt Richards, in whose mind the devastation remains fresh, noted that the full complement of 10 teachers reported for work on Monday, the first day that the school was reopening since the flood. Of the 150 students on roll, only 43 did not attend classes.

“We were affected terribly by the flood,” Richards said, sitting in a spanking clean office that was a stark contrast to the mess left by the flood of murky water last month.

“The water came more than about four feet high in the entire building, and when it ran off we had mud left up to about two feet. We had to clean out the entire building; we had to get extra help,” Richards said.

She told the Jamaica Observer that moments before the flood, she, while still off campus, gave instruction for students to return home.

“When I saw the heaviness of the rain, I had started calling a few persons for the students to return home. Luckily, I did that because the children who came out were able to go back home before anything happen. The teachers who remained at school were very helpful in saving documents and other materials that were necessary. However, they were trapped and we had to call for help. They got assistance from the fire department to get out of the building,” Richards further recounted.

The staff, however, was not able to save furniture. Thanks to the Ministry of Education, a number of those were replaced ahead of the school’s reopening.

“We lost some tables, chairs, refrigerator and a few other things in the flood. After the cleaning up, the ministry came in and assisted us with furniture and other necessities. We have more than 50 per cent of the furniture needed. We have 150 students on roll and we got 86 tables and chairs for them. So we use those along with the furniture that we were able to save,” the Port Maria Infant School principal further said.

Her school family is happy to be bounding back from the flood, but it remains wary of another massive challenge — the novel coronavirus pandemic.

That virus, initially, prompted the school to close its doors and resort to online learning for over a year, starting March 2020. The school reopened for face-to-face classes from last October until the day of the flood, but only on a rotational basis. Monday was the first time since 2020 that all students were being allowed back on campus at once, five days of the week.

The principal stated that her team has been trying to ensure that the infants adhere to protocols established to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Social distancing, she admitted, is among the hardest to maintain.

“The students came out in their numbers with their masks and their sanitisers on their bags well attached, and they are making use of those,” she further told the Observer.

The school was a virtual no-entry zone for parents throughout Monday, but several of them showed up outside, mainly to drop off and pick up their young ones.

“It’s good that the students are back at school,” said Kaleela Reddie, who came on foot to pick up Rashidi Miller. Carrying the excited boy in her arms across a water-logged area outside the school, Reddie told the Observer, “Even though he (Miller) does great with online learning, face-to-face class is better. When he is at school, the teacher can better take him through any point he doesn’t understand.”

A number of other parents echoed that sentiment.