"Biggest flood ever seen" ravages Kings and Monkey Puzzle

Friday 01 June 2018

A break in a water mains pipe at Kings Health & Leisure Club has flooded a portion of the building, condemning the Monkey Puzzle Nursery which is located on the site.

The break happened on Wednesday night, and was discovered by a member of the nursery's staff, who arrived at the site, to be "greeted with a swimming pool".

75% of the nursery has been destroyed in the flood, that saw mains water pumped into the building for a number of hours. While some furniture and the children's work and belongings were recovered, the building is set to have to undergo more than six months of repair works before it can be used by the nursery again.

"It is going to have to be entirely stripped out and refitted, it is not just going to be a case of new carpets and tidying it up. So far they have said we are going to be looking at around six months, but they havn't got into the fabric of the building," Caroline Blondel, Owner of Monkey Puzzle, said. 

"The water and damage expert who came in said this was the worst flood of its kind that he has seen - it is not going to be as easy for us to move back in as I had hoped."

The building itself is still being properly assessed, though yesterday the Fire Service had to tear down the ceilings from inside to make it safe for workmen to enter.

The water itself came through the spinning and Skillset rooms in Kings, and then came through the ceiling into the nursery. 

Kings have yet to comment on the damage, but is expected to do so later today.

Ms Blondel said the States of Guernsey Estate Management team had been extremely helpful so far, and had been at the site within 15 minutes. They have already found the nursery a site to relocate to during the interim period of repair work.

"We are moving into the annex of Grange House on Monday, and we have managed to relocate some of our other parts to our Montessori School at Les Cotils.

"The support we have had has been amazing so far, it has really been humbling how many parents have offered to help. The States really do deserve praise for how quickly they turned around a plan for us as well."