Hundreds Of New York Schools Scramble To Clean Up Hurricane Ida-Related Flooding Before Classes Start

The world just can’t catch a break, and apparently, neither can hundreds of New York Schools.

Numerous schools across the city were affected by Hurricane-Ida. The schools were already under pressure to set up COVID safety measures and return to in-person classes in just over a week, and now they must work fast to clean up the mess caused by Hurricane Ida.

The New York Daily News reported that 234 school buildings were flooded during the historic rainfall Thursday night— about 17% of the roughly 1,400 public school buildings citywide.

170 of those buildings have been cleaned up already, but 64 are still getting worked on, Department of Education officials stated.

Central Park East, located in East Harlem, is still in the process of cleaning up. The school’s basement was covered with water, and the flooding made its way into several areas of the school.

School facilities officials are requesting that they have until Tuesday to clean up and test the air in the school for mold, District 4 Community Education Council President Kaliris Salas-Ramirez stated.

School is set to start on Sept. 13.

“There’s so much that goes into the logistics of what the schools look like,” she said. “Not being able to go into the building, even if it’s just three days, is a big hit for us.”

DOE officials reported that the majority of the flooding of school buildings was “minor and isolated to partial flooding of basements.”

DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer said, “our incredible facilities staff immediately began making repairs and replacing lost materials at a small number of school buildings impacted by Hurricane Ida…the team is working around the clock to ensure all buildings are ready to welcome students and staff back in the next two weeks.”