Two Tilbury schools close for flood cleanup

CTV Windsor: Tilbury school flooding Two Tilbury schools are closed as crews cleanup flooded areas. Michelle Maluske reports.

Two schools in Tilbury will remain closed for another day due to flooding.

Tilbury District High School and Tilbury Area Public School were closed on Wednesday and they will remain closed to students and staff again on Thursday.

In addition, all bus routes for Tilbury District High School and Tilbury Area Public School will be cancelled until Friday.

The EarlyON child care at Tilbury Area Public School and the Before-and-After School Program will also remain closed on Thursday.

The Lambton Kent District School Board says staff need more time in order to clean-up the areas impacted by flooding in the buildings.

The schools also suffered a power outage after Tuesday night’s severe thunderstorms that dumped as much as 80 millimetres of rain.

LKDSB Superintendent of Maintainence Brian McKay says they had as much as two inches of rain in the schools.

“It backed up through the floor drains and when that happens you can't do much about it,” says McKay.

Environment Canada posted an hour-long tornado warning for Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent during Tuesday’s storm, but no tornadoes were reported.

Still, the storm caused flooding for hundreds of homes across the region.

Rob Vidamour of Winmar Restoration says most of the 50 calls received Wednesday for homes in Essex County.

In Windsor, city officials say more than 210 residents called 311 about flooded basements.

More than 80 calls were made from homes in ward four, in the Walkerville area.

The storm also knocked out electricity to thousands of homes. It also uprooted some trees and even destroyed a ‘Welcome to Amherstburg’ brick sign. A wooden billboard next to it appeared untouched.

Tilbury Area Public School will be open on Friday for the staff to report to the site for the Professional Activity Day.

Staff at Tilbury District High School are expected to return to the school site on Monday.