Florence, which has been downgraded to a tropical depression, has been dumping rain across North Carolina to the extent that officials warned people not to enter the state.
But officials in Durham chose to hold classes on Sept. 17. Later in the day, they released a statement saying that the decision had been reached after speaking with emergency management officials and after reviewing the weather beginning at 3:30 a.m.
Officials said the safest choice at that point was to take the students in the buses to the school, noting: “Students that have arrived at our schools are safe and sound.”
Anyone who didn’t make it will not be counted as absent.
Other districts in the area, including Wake County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City, canceled classes on Sept. 17. Orange County ended up dismissing students two hours early and canceling all after-school activities, as did Durham, the district said in a statement.
Tornado Warning and Flooding
A tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service at 7:37 a.m., cleared in some areas about 15 minutes later, and reissued at 8:17 a.m. before being canceled for good around 30 minutes later. The tornado and flooding prompted classes for Duke University in Durham to be canceled.Mud Creek flows under Pickett Road, which was flooded in some sections by the overflow.
Firefighters were dispatched to the road at around 9:30 a.m. after a report of a school bus with elementary school students being stuck in the flooding. The students were ultimately picked up by school staff, though it’s unclear what happened to the bus.
In another incident, an Orange County bus drove through a flooded section of N.C. 10 as it transported students to school.
