In the early morning of Tuesday, September 13th, the National Weather Service woke up New Yorkers with an emergency alert sent via cell phones, warning people about possible flash flooding.

The WJPS community was affected by this as the basement was flooded, causing it to be closed off for safety reasons.

Ms. Deanna, WJPS main office staff member, stated “We had so much rain come in that all the drains backed up, causing the basement to flood immensely.”

“I got a call from one of the maintenance guys right before seven AM saying the basement was flooded, and when I got here, WJPS and I.S 25 were already on top of it. The elevators were down which was tricky because we have a number of students who use wheelchairs, so we had to escort them out the front door. Everything ended up working out and I’m glad the whole building came together as a team,” commented P.S Q233 instructional support teacher, Ms. Wacha.

Many classes that are normally held in the basement had to be temporarily moved since students and staff were not allowed downstairs. The basement re-opened the next day and classes resumed.