Canterbury flood affects schools

Catholic schools in many parts of Canterbury were forced to close for at least a day, while one Mass was cancelled at the St Augustine of Canterbury Pastoral Area of Mid-Canterbury after the region was pounded with heavy rain on the last weekend of May.

Fr Denis Nolan, parish priest of the pastoral area that includes Ashburton, Tinwald, Rakaia and Methven, said they decided to cancel the Mass in Rakaia due to safety concerns.

“It rained all day on Sunday and also, the Mass was at  6 o’clock. It would have been dark. It’s one thing to have swollen water around you, traversing it [in] the day-time, but at night-time it’s dangerous to bring people out,” he said. NZ Catholic caught up with Fr Nolan on June 2.

He was in Methven to celebrate a weekday Mass and visit Our Lady of the
Snows School.

The school decided to open (on June 2) for students who were able to safely travel to school from within the township, or were able to use roads that remained open. The school was closed on the Monday and the Tuesday, as their property
team assessed the damages from the flood.

Fr Nolan said he was also visiting a couple of farmers on his way back to Ashburton to see how they were.

“Like any natural disaster, it’s so random. Some people got off lightly with this severe flooding while for others, their place is almost wrecked,” he said.

Most of the Catholic colleges resumed classes on June 1 for students who can safely go back to school, while others decided to start classes a little later to allow more time for students to get to school.

In a Facebook post, Roncalli College principal Chris Comeau said it made sense for the students to remain at home and work remotely on the Monday (May 31).

“They are all set up with Google Classroom, and should be able to access the work from home. Any students not able to remain at home are welcome to come to school where they will be supervised by teaching staff in the school library. No formal classes will be held, however,” he said in his post.

Fr Nolan said it was still unclear what kind of help people needed as some were more affected than others.

“I’m trying to visit a few people and see what’s going on for them. . . to just sort of be a presence and a witness to Jesus at times like this,” he said.