Hlohovec has been under a state of emergency for more than three months, which was declared in the city at the beginning of January due to a landslide near the local elementary school.
Since then, classes have been held only in the accessible part of the building, and the situation is regularly monitored by a structural engineer. The municipality is currently looking for a developer of project documentation for construction modifications of the emergency state of the southwest wing of the school.
The problems started at the end of December, when a large-scale landslide was detected in the vicinity of Podzámska Elementary School in the direction of Manckovičova Street, which grew larger during the following days.
Subsequently, on January 8, the city’s crisis team decided to declare an emergency due to the risk of another landslide, which could endanger people and properties below the slope.
The building is regularly inspected by a structural engineer
According to experts, the dangerous situation should have been caused by a fault in the school’s water pipeline. The water leakage waterlogged the soil and the slope subsequently broke away. The accident caused the school’s floor to fall, damage to some non-load-bearing partitions as well as to the sewerage and heating pipes. The critical situation arose at the second entrance to the school in its southwest wing. This part of the building is still closed.
“Despite the fact that this part of the school is not able to operate, it is not in immediate danger. The state of emergency in the water supply, sewerage and heating distributions is currently removed. Monitoring targets are placed at the school, which are regularly checked, recorded and regularly sent to the structural engineer and geologist, so the school is still safe,” informed Vice Mayor Henrich Pataláš at the city council meeting on Thursday (April 23).
At the meeting, the deputies approved 37,000 euros for three more project documents related to the remediation of slope deformation, static securing of the foundation structure and the reconstruction of the southwest wing. Since the beginning of the year, the landslide has already claimed more than 49,000 euros from the city coffers.
“To date, the emergency felling of dangerous trees and the removal of the concrete monolith in the damaged slope, which threatened the garages, have been carried out,” said Pataláš.
The state of emergency will not be lifted yet
The garages, which are located below the slope according to the city office, are currently not at risk thanks to the measures taken.
“Even if there is no immediate threat now, the problem is not solved in the long term. It is still a landslide zone in the whole area, so you have to take into account that there will always be some restrictions,” informed the head of the construction department, Ľuboš Hložka.
According to him, the emergency situation will last for several months. “If we were to recall her now, we would not be able to apply for funds from the Ministry of the Interior,” explained Hložka. At the same time, the town hall is also dealing with insurance payments, so far it has been paid almost 50,000 euros.
The municipality does not yet know how much the removal of the consequences of the landslide will require from the city coffers. “We have some idea of how it will look, it will be sloping, some static security will also be made there, it will not be completely easy even for the cramped conditions that are there,” added Hložka.
The primary school on Podzámská Street is the newest and largest school in the city. As the sixth in a row, it was opened in September 1988. At that time, over 800 children attended the school in seven grades. Currently, approximately 450 pupils are educated in 22 classes.
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