Minister of Education suspends school for Wednesday, August 24th as a precautionary measure ahead of the arrival of an active tropical wave scheduled to affect St. Maarten tonight and into tomorrow morning.
After consulting with Meteorologist Mr. Isaac for an update at 11 pm, the Minister decided to suspend classes for all schools tomorrow due to the approaching weather system.
According to the authorities, intermittent heavy rain, thunderstorms as well as the possibility of flash flooding could occur late tonight and early tomorrow morning.
Minister Jacobs apologizes for the lateness of the announcement but preferred to take the decision with as much information as possible.
Seeing the possibility of thunderstorms and flooding occurring during school hours, and knowing how precarious our roads can become as a result, the Minister prefers to err on the side of caution. Prevention in such cases is always better than cure. With school buses picking up students as early as 6 am, this announcement could not wait until the morning.
Parents, school management and staff and school bus operators are all informed that there will be no school tomorrow August 24th.
Further updates will be given during the course of the day.
The population of St. Maarten is asked to exercise caution as heavy rainfall can cause flash flooding and landslides. May God be with us and keep us all safe during the passing of this tropical wave.
Based on the current predictions impacted us as expected during the night when the decision was made to suspend school last night. Some rain may still be expected during the day but as was explained by the authorities this is the nature of the beast in terms of its unpredictability as the system remains unorganized and the large area it covers.
Most of the rain clouds are to the south of our area, but there is still a chance of rain during the morning and the decision will not be reversed at this late stage while people went to bed under the impression that there is no school.
The population is urged to continue to monitor the system as it is still within our general area. There will be no school today.
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