On Thursday afternoon, the superintendent of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, John Sanville, issued an email alert regarding the stormy forecast for the next few days. Sanville wrote:

“With Joaquin on the way – and considerable rain forecasted prior to his arrival – we are monitoring the local waterways carefully. We are uniquely situated in Chester County, with the Brandywine River and tributaries running right through our community. This means we have experience with flooding and related bridge and road closures.

“UCFSD has plans and procedures in place to safely transport children in the event of flooding. There are crews putting eyes on road conditions and we are closely following the hydrological tables for predicted flood stages. If you would like to follow along with us in monitoring conditions this link is a great start -- http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=phi&gage=CDFP1.

“In general (depending on the amount of debris under the bridges) these are the thresholds that impact transportation:

At 8-10 feet — Northbrook Bridge closes — impacts employees coming to work and students we take to the CCIU. We have work-arounds for transportation to get kids to the CCIU.

At 9.5 − 10.5 feet — 926 Bridge closes. We have work-arounds for transportation. However, buses will be late to bus stops and to school.

11-13 feet — Route 1 Bridge closes. This is the disaster situation. If Route 1 is closed, we will not bring students in. If during a school day there is the danger of Route 1 closing — we will close early.”

Sanville said the Unionville Community Fair and related activities are still planned for Friday. “Please bear with us as we monitor multiple scenarios that impact all parts of the district,” Sanville wrote.