Busted Pipe Causes Flooding, Headaches at WHS

WATONGA – Watonga High School students had to work from home for one day last week after a busted water line flooded some areas of the campus.

The flooding started on Wednesday afternoon, April 6, and kept WHS students home for the day on April 7. Elementary and middle school students were not affected.

“We all know the most important place for our students to be is at school,” Superintendent Kyle Hilterbran wrote online Wednesday, promising a quick clean-up and a speedy return.

High school students were back in the classroom on Friday, April 8, though Hilterbran said that repairs will be going on for the “remainder of the school year.”

“These projects will cause some inconvenience at times,” he wrote, “but shouldn’t interfere with the education of our students.”

Hilterbran told the Watonga Republican last week that officials are still trying to determine exactly what happened and why the leak occurred. “It shot water underneath the foundation,” he said, “and also did flood damage to a significant amount of the school.”

Hilterbran said crews from Blackmon Mooring were on scene within hours Wednesday, drying up the school and getting it ready for students’ return. He said “coaches, teachers and administrators” got to work Wednesday with squeegees and mops, trying to keep water out of classrooms.

“The hard work and dedication of those people that were up here working, it enabled us to be able to have class, and to keep the water out of those classrooms.”

On Thursday, April 7, the Watonga school board met in an emergency session to authorize Hilterbran to make the expenditures necessary to fully clean the school. Crews could be seen there on Friday removing drywall and insulation from walls, running fans, and throwing away water-damaged sections. Makeshift hallways had been erected with tapedup plastic sheets, keeping students away from the ongoing work.

Hilterbran said the next steps will be to determine why the leak happened, fix the problem, finish drying out the walls, and then work with Joe D. Hall General Contractors to put everything “back together again.”

“We know that the safest place for kids to be is at school,” Hilterbran reiterated, “so we have them up here, and we’re working on trying to continue learning.”