Sprinkler line floods Eastmont Middle School, does potential $500K damage

Jon Lewis of Utah Disaster Kleenup works inside the school's woodshop Wednesday, July 30, 2014, at Eastmont Middle School, cleaning up after a sprinkler pipe broke overnight, filling a large portion of the school with mud and water.

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

SANDY A sprinkler line break has flooded Eastmont Middle School, doing a possible half-million dollars' worth of damage just three weeks before classes are scheduled to resume.

The break in a sprinkler line that irrigates the school's lawn was discovered early Wednesday morning. Several inches of water flowed into the building's first floor and did extensive damage to the auditorium, where water ran down the large sloped room and pooled at the stage.

"The damage is pretty significant. We had considerable amounts of water all through the lower floor," said Canyons School District spokeswoman Jennifer Toomer-Cook. "We did have damage in the auditorium to seating and the stage area that we need to get taken care of."

Electricity to the building has been cut and is expected to be kept off for several days due to water that seeped into the boiler room transformers. The system must be recertified for use before power can be restored.

A number of new computers in the school's media center were also caught in the flood. Replacements will be covered under the district's insurance policy.

"It's so unfortunate that that happened," Toomer-Cook said. "We're just so grateful that our insurance will cover it, and we expect to have everything fully replaced by the time school starts."

Sandy Fire Battalion Chief Chris Dawson said crews were called to the school about 5:30 a.m. and assisted with shutting off the water. Crews didn't do a formal damage assessment, but the battalion chief who responded Wednesday initially estimated damage could reach a half-million dollars.

A trench that had been dug for a separate water line channeled the water into the school, Dawson said.

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Sprinkler line floods Eastmont Middle School, does potential $500K damage