Roofs blown away: The wait for schools to reopen to get longer

Around 400 students from two schools near Diveagar, where Cyclone Nisarga made its landfall in Raigad, may have to wait to attend classes as the roofs of their dilapidated school buildings blew off.

Around 400 students from two schools in Mandad and Kude villages near Diveagar, where Cyclone Nisarga made its landfall in Raigad, may have to wait to attend classes as the cyclonic storm blew off the roofs of their dilapidated school buildings.

Cyclone Nisarga blew off the roof of a school building in Raigad district. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

Despite the fact that the buildings were made with concrete, parts of the schools were damaged while chairs, tables and books were scattered on floors.

“On Wednesday afternoon, when the first wave of strong winds hit us, we thought the cyclone did not do much damage. However, after around an hour, another extremely strong wave battered the entire region,” said Atul Karanje, 16, a student of the high school in Mandad village.

Rohit Nayanekar, another student near Kude village who saw the cyclone destroy his school, said, “We could see the roof tiles slowly scraping off one by one, and soon enough, we could see only the layout of our classroom.”

“We will always remember how this cyclone impacted our lives,” said Jagannath Tandev, caretaker of the Kude village high school who took shelter at a house next to the school on Wednesday.