BEAVERTON, Ore. — Schools across the Portland metro area is grappling with repairs following two major storms over the past few days. Some schools have burst pipes, frozen boilers and leaks in the buildings.
One of the hardest hit districts was the Beaverton School District, which had several schools still dealing with burst pipes on Wednesday.
“It's been a little bit crazy," Anna Connor, a West Hills resident said.
“So, it’s just been around the clock, repeatedly going to these schools while also trying to address the repairs that we can,” Shellie Bailey-Shah, the Beaverton School District Communications Officer said.
Layers of ice coated roads around West Tualatin View Elementary School in the West Hills Wednesday. Along with the ice, there were downed trees and utility poles. A tree fell on the roof of the school too.
“We have crews in the schools prioritizing them,” Shellie Bailey-Shah said.
Portland Public Schools is also working on some repairs. They’ve seen burst pipes, frozen boilers and schools without electricity across the district.
After winter storms knocked out tens of thousands of families' power for days, students at West Tualatin View Elementary School created petitions to cancel exams scheduled for this coming week.
"It's sad," Connor said.
Beaverton School District officials added that even when power returns more problems can arise.
Recently, they’ve seen the return of electricity lead to pipes warming. Soon after, crews started to notice leaks.
"Bottom line, we're not able to send kids back to school if there's no power and no water," Bailey-Shah said.
Still, crews in Beaverton are working as quickly as possible to reopen schools, Bailey-Shah said. All schools have canceled classes for Thursday.