Floodwaters disrupt Aitape’s St Ignatius

The National Education
St Ignatius Secondary School principal Ronald Raintangken and his daughter in their flooded home. – Pictures supplied

By SAMANTHA KATI
THE St Ignatius Secondary School (SISS) in Aitape, West Sepik, suspended its classes last Friday after floodwaters covered dormitories, classrooms, teachers’ houses and other buildings.
Principal Ronald Raintangken confirmed the incident, saying: “The flood was serious and the floodwaters went into almost all the buildings. We had to suspend classes.”
Raintangken said the floodwaters overflowed into the school campus at 3am in the morning when all teachers and their families and students were fast asleep.
“The floodwaters covered almost 90 per cent of all the school amenities including teachers’ houses. The floodwaters reached height levels of between 10cm and 5cm,” he said.
Academically, St Ignatius had continued over the years to maintain its status as one of Papua New Guinea’s top-performing secondary schools.
“Our total cost for damages, after collecting reports from the respective department and sections in the school, is about K86,000,” Raintangken said.

The male student dormitory inundated by floodwaters.

He said this was the first time St Ignatius had experienced a flood of this scale and magnitude.
“The severity of this flood is due to the miscalculated diversion of the Raihu River.
“After the river was diverted, the school started experiencing floodwaters reaching heights like never before.”
He said the only other severe flood he could remember occurred in January 2022.
“Before the diversion of the river, the school’s routine was never disrupted or affected by floodwaters.
“However, after the change of the river flow, the school’s normal routines have been affected and it is also posing a health hazard to all the constituents of the school,” Raintangken said.
“I am appealing to the higher authorities concerned to promptly look into and address this matter to return the school to its normal operations.”
He said an ideal temporary solution would be to build a solid stonewall to prevent the river from busting its banks.
“Additionally, it is necessary to create access and let water continue to flow in its original path to maintain the depth of the river bed,” Raintangken said.