SUNSET — A saturated, muddy ground is the aftermath of Wednesday morning's storms at Ecole St. Landry immersion school. The problem only worsened when the high water started affecting the school's plumbing system.
The school in Sunset was supposed to open like any other school day, but that changed after heavy rains submerged the school grounds.
"So, this morning was nuts. One teacher called and said that he had water in his house. We had several teachers who had to drive through Lafayette traffic, so they were very late to work. We didn't even want them on the road, but at that point, they committed. Then we finally thought that everything was going okay, and then we realized that our toilets were not flushing," said Principal Lindsay Smythe.
This led to parents picking up their children just a few hours after dropping them off, which was a bit challenging.
"So the section where we are standing is where the kids arrive and dismiss in the afternoon and mornings, and even though it doesn't look like a ton of water was here, this morning, there was a ton of water," Smythe said.
And all that water led to the toilets backing up.
"When you have 220 students and only two working toilets, the math says you shouldn't be on campus," Smythe said.
Usually, the campus has seven working toilets; five were offline this morning.
Students Maddox Guillory and his little brother, Micah were a little uneasy about the situation.
"It was really bad; I wish it would just change to summer," said Guillory.
And guardians coming to pick up their children couldn't agree more.
"It was ugly and nasty, too much rain, but I was able to come and pick him up," said Cathy Venable.
"The last time this happened, we had to have a second day of cancellations, so I will be here all day, flushing toilets, checking them, and then see what happens after that," said Smythe.
Now, in the middle of our interview, I was allowed inside the school to look at the toilets that were not flushing, but---around that time, they seemed to be flushing properly.
In a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon, Principal Smythe announced that all restrooms are working and that school will resume Thursday morning.
