A recent atmospheric river brought nearly 13 inches of rain to Los Angeles during the month of February, inconveniencing and endangering some Pali students and staff.
Although Pali stayed open on Monday Feb. 5, the first weekday of heavy rainfall in Los Angeles, many teachers and students said they were conflicted on whether to come to school. Road closures and flooding impacted their routes, forcing many to stay home and causing a plethora of absences. Pali administration opted to move classes online on Feb. 6 and 7.
Joseph Bucher-Leighton, a junior who was recently featured in a New York Times Instagram Post related to the storm, said that he was unable to leave his neighborhood due to the storm’s effects.
“There was a landslide right next to my house,” he said. “My whole street was just covered in mud. I couldn’t drive out or anything, so I was pretty much stuck in my house.”
Bucher-Leighton said he spent his days during the storm shoveling mud and attending Zoom school.
Health teacher Susan Ackerman said that due to the flooding in Topanga Canyon, she was stuck in her house until a few days after the rainfall had stopped.
“[The rain] was bad because all the debris from the trees clogged up the creek and then all the rain came and just spilled,” she said.
Ackerman added that she did not feel safe driving in the rain. The Department of Transportation estimates that 21 percent of all car crashes are caused by rain.
Ackerman said, “I looked at the road in front of my house and I’m like ‘it’s a river.’”
Holly Korbonski, a study skills advisor, had a similar experience near her canyon home.
“[The rainfall] was fairly major,” Korbonski said. “[A] creek is in my backyard. It never got to the point where we were worried but it did come up over the banks in a few places and we were definitely locked in.”
Many Pali students and staff experienced similar issues.
Ackerman and Korbonski had different perspectives regarding Pali’s transition online during the storm, but both agreed that it was probably necessary.
Ackerman, who enjoyed the relaxing nature of online teaching, wants to integrate Zoom as a part of the weekly schedule.
“I like Zoom school,” she said. “It’s chill, it’s easy, it’s convenient, it’s relaxing. I wish we could do it once every two weeks.”
While some teachers enjoyed Zoom school’s convenience, others felt it interfered with their class schedules.
Korbonski said: “It gave me PTSD of COVID… it just brought back how highly difficult that was for everybody. I think it was the right decision though.”
