Almost 300 Clearwater Middle School students enjoyed an unexpected day off yesterday after a broken pipe caused the building to flood.

The chaos began at 10 a.m. yesterday when an old section of pipe on the top floor boys' toilets crashed down and broke a section of PVC piping.

The water rushed down a hole in the floor between a radiator piping into a toilet below, did the same again, then burst through roof tiles and flooded the basement.

The water damaged ceiling tiles, walls, a photocopier, computers and books in the basement.

But despite the damage, Works and Engineering staff managed to carry out repairs and the school will be open again today.

The flood circuited electrical power which triggered off fire alarms, alerting staff to the problems. School principal Charlotte Ming said yesterday: "I called the Permanent Secretary at Education and asked what to do in this situation because we had no flushing toilets, no electricity, and nothing was working, and he gave me permission to release the children and send them home. "

"The teachers and myself had to use our cell phones to alert as many parents as we could, and an announcement was put out over the radio."

Deputy principal Dr. Derek Tully said: "It was like a trickle that became a stream that became a flood." With fire crews dealing with the flooding, four school buses were despatched quickly and the 283 children were sent home just after 11 a.m.