Sandys Parish home was flooded touched off a wave of sympathy this week.

Seven-year-old William Manning's parents kept him away from Southampton Glebe School after last Saturday's disaster.

But now teachers have told him he can turn up in casual clothes and they have rallied around to help.

Said William's teacher, Mrs. Sandra Smith: "We will do whatever we can to help, such as getting shoes and other items.

"We are looking for shoes which children may have outgrown, but are still in good condition.'' She added efforts had also been made to salvage William's school reading book, which was damaged by the flood.

"We don't want him missing out on his lessons.'' William's parents, Christopher and Donna, lost $21,000 worth of belongings in the flooding which forced them to move from their rented home off Duerden Lane.

Up to ten inches of muddy rainwater poured into their property through a window in the bathroom, damaging furniture, curtains, carpets and even Christmas toys.

Mother-of-two Mrs. Manning, 30, said the flooding occurred during a heavy rainstorm because Government had apparently failed to put up a wall behind the building.

The wall would have stopped water pouring in from Government-owned farmland.

Mrs. Manning said she and her husband had no current contract with their landlord Mr. Melvin Roberts, and the contents of the building were not insured.

"We are still in the dark over the issue of compensation. We feel we should be reimbursed since the flooding was not our fault.'' The couple have approached a local law firm to find out where they stand.

"We were told to ring back if nothing happened,'' said Mrs. Manning, who has been given the week off work by her employers, the Bermuda Telephone Company.

While their home is cleaned up, the Mannings have moved in temporarily with a former landlord.

"We hope to move back to our apartment by the weekend,'' said Mrs. Manning.

The Mannings case has been taken up by Sandys South MP Mr. Walter Lister.

He has been arranging a site visit with the Works and Engineering department.

"Government may be liable, although we won't know until we get all the facts,'' he said.