An elementary school in Harrisburg is partially underwater following Monday’s heavy rains.
Liberty Elementary, which houses kindergarten through fifth grade has water inside about 12 rooms. The flooding occurred during a six-hour rainstorm when waters overtopped sandbags. According to Jim Holbeck, the superintendent of the Harrisburg School District, water levels were still rising in the building Tuesday morning.
“Now we’ve got water coming through the walls and up through the floors. So I would guess we have about a dozen rooms that have water in them right now in addition of course to our gymnasium,” says Holbeck.
Holbeck says that water levels are almost three feet deep in some areas of the building, leaving the gymnasium floor a total loss.
At 2:30 p.m. students attending summer classes in Liberty Elementary were released due to high winds. Holbeck says the rain began at 3 p.m., which is when the damage became apparent.
“At 5 o’clock the water was coming up on the lowest part of our building. We called in people, we sandbagged the doors there, got the pumps running. By 7 o’clock we couldn’t keep up and the water was coming up into the doors and onto our gym floor,” says Holbeck.
More than 100 volunteers came to the school to help sandbag and haul out water rushing into the building. Several of the doors to the building have been sandbagged.
District officials expect the school should be in working order for the Fall, minus the gymnasium. Holbeck says other school buildings within the school district had minor roof leaks.
