School roof flooded? What a load of balls!

Take a look at this!

Can you imagine this much water on your roof?

This was the scene we discovered a short while ago at Symington Primary School in Kilmarnock.

That’s about 35 tonnes of water on that roof. That’s one major problem – however big the building.

Help our roof is flooded!

You would be surprised at how many times we see this sort of thing – but this is pretty extreme.

The caretakers had a right old headache here. The water hadn’t been draining for days – probably more like weeks. And as a result the weight of that water was starting cause very real concern about the integrity of the building.

I mean think about it. You are sitting in a classroom studying your 5 Times Table – only for that lot to come crashing down on you?

Fortunately, the school called in Probe to handle the draining of the water.

We worked fast to set up two pumps – and siphoned the water over the side of the building.

But what do you think had caused this flooding?

Can you guess?

The playing fields probably give it away – it was balls. Three tennis balls, to be precise. One in each downpipe. Just the perfect shape to get lodged fast and stop the water draining away as it should.

We regularly do gutter cleaning for schools across Scotland – and it’s amazing the things we see thrown up on school roofs. Balls, shoes, bottles. But we’d never seen a roof with this much water on it as a result.

Fortunately our efforts resulted in the roof being cleared — with no damage to the school classrooms underneath.

If you have a flood in an unusual place – call Probe Drainage Specialists on 0141 363 0121.