THE THAW

Last week’s major one-two punch of snowstorms throughout the state wreaked havoc with some local schools.

Gymnasiums in at least three area high school sustained damage from pipes bursting and a well froze up at another school.

At North Rock Creek School, Supt. Blake Moody said last Friday afternoon, “We’ve been closed all week due to weather.”

Moody noted, “We got a Pre-K classroom office flooded with a busted pipe, but there was minimal damage. High School Principal Chad Brooking happened to go through a Pre-K door to go into the Elementary school and discovered it.

“If he hadn’t found it, it would have been really bad,” Moody believes, because the water would have run all night. “We were really lucky. We got the water turned off.”

Moody said, “It took us a bit to find the shutoff valve. It ran about 30 minutes before Chad found it,” he estimated.

But it got a little worse overnight Friday. Moody received a call early Saturday of water problems in the NRC gymnasium.

Water reportedly damaged the north end of the gymnasium and the girls locker room was also flooded.

He thought then snow that had piled up on gym’s roof had melted, refroze, then thawed and the water found its way down a seam on the north wall.

Moody said on Saturday, “fortunately that water didn’t get inside the playing surface. It damaged about 10 feet out from the north wall.”

But all that changed by later in the weekend, and so did what caused it, he said on Monday.

Moody explained, “It now has spread to about half court. Eventually, the entire gymnasium floor will have to be replaced.”

Because of that, Moody pointed out the North Rock Creek School Board was holding a special meeting Wednesday evening to declare an emergency on replacing the gym floor. That will allow Moody to proceed with handling it as soon as possible.

Elaborating on the cause and the impact the damaged floor will have on NRC hosting its own Class 3A basketball Regional starting Thursday night, Moody said, “There is a single, solitary pipe that feeds one outdoor faucet. We found a valve that shut down a pipe that fed outside water faucets.

“This line apparently busted as the valve closing stopped the leak. There is no apparent roof damage that we know of,” Moody added.

He continued, “All of the other pipes throughout the Middle School are inside and climate controlled.”

Moody noted that NRC was in the process of hosting a Class A Regional Boys and Girls tournament Saturday afternoon and evening, Monday night and Tuesday night. They played the Saturday games.

“We had the floor repaired where they could play on Monday and Tuesday night,” Moody stated.

But he’s not sure about their own Regional which is scheduled to start tonight. “We have a couple of gyms on standby where we could host from their gyms,” he said.

Moody’s estimate is it will cost between $250,000 and $300,000 to replace the floor.

Elsewhere, Meeker School Supt. Jeff Pruitt said, “Pipes burst in the gymnasium and covered the entire lobby. Last Friday, Pruitt said, “Still have not been able to get a plumber out to look at it. Water had to be shut off to the gym.

“Had another problem on Thursday at the Elementary School cafeteria.”

Ky Wilkins, Dale Acting School Superintendent, said the new gymnasium and the new high school sustained water damage.

An emergency meeting of the Dale School Board was called for and held Tuesday to allow Wilkins to handle the repairs.

Chandler School Supt. Melody Toma said, “We had a pipe burst in our basement at East Side Elementary and a water line in our high school parking lot. Both will be fixed and good to go by Monday.”

Alicia Ebers, White Rock superintendent reported,“Our water froze and we’re having to do quite a bit of work at the well. When we have water again, we’ll find out about the inside plumbing. Hoping for the best, but definitely concerned.”

Stroud School Supt. Joe Van Tuyl reported, “No issues so far.”

Davenport was forced on Monday to call off classes due to having no water.

Lincoln County Commission Chairman Lee Doolen said there had been no problem with pipes at the courthouse or any other county facility.

Same was the case with District 1 Pottawatomie County Commissioner Melissa Dennis.