School cancelled again at Trevor-Wilmot School due to flooding
TREVOR (WITI) -- It was supposed to be back to school on Wednesday, January 8th for students at Trevor-Wilmot School after two days off due to the extreme cold -- but staff members walked in on Wednesday morning to find classrooms and the gym flooded -- and school was cancelled again.
"The water poured out for we don't know how many hours," Trevor-Wilmot District Administrator George Steffen said.
A hallway, five classrooms and a gymnasium were under water.
"As far as we know, it may not be temperature related. It may simply be that the coil -- the heating element rusted out and burst," Steffen said.
School officials believe the heating coil ruptured in its heat exchanger between 4:00 p.m. Tuesday and 5:45 a.m. Wednesday sending water into the hallway, gym and five classrooms.
The water even got to the north entrance doors -- freezing them.
"Had it continued on for an even longer time, it would've eventually started to go to other places," Steffen said.
School was cancelled again on Wednesday, as cleaning crews vacuumed up the two inches of water standing in the building.
"It's very frustrating because we're losing good learning time right now, but we have to worry about the safety of the kids first," Steffen said.
While Trevor-Wilmot begins its short-term cleanup to get students back to class, Steffen says there is still work to be done in the long-term to prevent further damage.
"Water seeps in under the base boards and gets in the walls and you have a problem," Steffen said.
School officials are hopeful school will be in session on Thursday.