Students at Poplar Bluff R-1 were out of school yesterday to allow time for crews to clean the high school after Saturday's heavy downpour flooded parts of the building.
According to district superintendent Scott Dill, the majority of the damage came from residue and silt left behind from the water, which he estimated rose from half an inch to one inch inside the building. Dill said the two-day clean-up was a combined effort between school employees and ServPro, a company specializing in disaster cleanup.
"(The water) rose so quickly and then receded just as quickly," said Dill, who estimated the entire event lasted about 15 minutes. "The mass amounts of rain surprised me, and many people, I believe."
Predominantly, the water entered the building from the back, permeating classrooms located in the two hallways on the right side more so than those in the hallways to the left. Water also came through the main entrance and through the doors on the front of the building.
Dill said all available personnel were called to assist, and crews entered the building Saturday night. He said ServPro arrived after he contacted the district's property and liability insurance company. He said at this point, he is unsure what the monetary cost to the district will be, but that the event was covered by insurance.
Dill said the water entering the back of the building rolled down the hill from the county road behind the school, onto the Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center's parking lot, down the next hill and into the building. He said he is working with the Missouri Dept. of Transportation to address the issue.
Dill also said that due to the rapid pace at which the water rose, multiple drains around the high school became clogged and the water was too high when he arrived to locate and effectively unclog.
Dill said the decision to cancel school on Monday was to allow the teachers whose classrooms were impacted by the water time to go in and sort through their materials and find if anything received damage.
One teacher, whose room received some of the heaviest water, said the only item she lost was a power charger for her computer. Math teacher Melissa Taylor said she lost one textbook and some papers, but that, overall, she was very impressed with the response by school crews and ServPro.
"My classroom was not the worst hit, but it had a lot of water and silt in it," Taylor said. "It was very easy to do my part with clean-up because it had been professionally cleaned by the time I got here."
Taylor said considering the circumstances, Monday was a good day.
"Everyone came together to help," she said. "I had teachers from across the district calling and asking me if I needed help in any way. We had support from staff and custodians from all over the district. The junior high teachers came here and made us lunch. Mr. Dill did a great job and it was a great day."
Dill said in prior years, the high school's campus took on water in the same areas near the rear of the building when it was the 5th & 6th Grade Center.
Dill said Mules Stadium, which has undergone some scrutiny because of the amount of water it has been known to take on, was not drastically impacted by the flash flood.
"I do believe the work we did at the stadium worked. The rip rap around the bottom trapped the mud. We rerouted drains and increased the capacity, which all seemed to have an effect," Dill said.
The redesign, which was completed by K&S Construction as part of a change order on the project, took place in the fall. At the same time, it was also determined K&S veered from the stadium's original specs provided by Smith & Co., regarding the placement of erosion mats on the steep hillside to promote the stable growth of new grass. During Saturday's heavy rains, Dill said, the erosion mats and new grass remained in place.
District-wide, the middle school was the only other building to take on water Saturday. Dill said he is currently working to learn whether it is the result of a design flaw, or if it was just the case of an excessive amount of water. He said one classroom near the end of a hallway where the old facility meets new construction was impacted.