School will go on as planned in West Des Moines, despite hail damage at five buildings
The first day of school in West Des Moines might be a little damp.
Students walking through the halls on Wednesday may see and hear fans used to help dry out hallways and other spaces after a deluge of rain and hail swept through central Iowa on Friday. The Des Moines metro saw large hailstones, some several inches across, and massive downpours during the storms that flooded roads, toppled trees and damaged buildings.
Officials are reporting damage to several schools in the district. Five were most affected, including Crossroads Park, Fairmeadows and Hillside elementary schools, Stilwell Junior High and Valley High School, where one teacher reported it hailed for 20 minutes.
More: Friday's storm left flooded streets, tree and hail damage behind in central Iowa
Laine Mendenhall-Buck, director of school and community relations, said classrooms were not significantly affected, though areas like hallways, offices and gyms in several schools had standing water, which came in through the ceiling.
At Valley, a few ceiling tiles fell to the ground, she said. Crossroads Park, Fairmeadows and Valley all had phone and internet outages.
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Royce Mahoney, a business teacher at Valley, was at the high school Friday for a teacher work day. During the storm, he and other teachers moved containers throughout the building to catch water coming in through the roof. Then they watched helplessly as their cars were pummeled with hail.
Back at school on Monday, he said he saw fans, blowers and other equipment to dry out affected areas.
"Right now, everything is really getting put back together," he said.
He said teachers and staff were working together to help put furniture and equipment back to their rightful places. He noticed everyone get to work "immediately."
"While this was frustrating and chaotic as it was happening, our leadership and staff responded incredibly, even with the start of the year looming," he said.
Mendenhall-Buck said cleaning company ServiceMaster was on site within an hour after the storm. Officials have already contacted roofing companies for repairs.
"We are thankfully doing very well considering the unexpected deluge we received last week," Mendenhall-Buck said.
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The district does not have information on how much repairs will cost or what it will submit to insurance, Mendenhall-Buck said.
The first day of school will go on as planned, and activities are expected to continue as usual. The phone and internet outages were expected to be resolved by the end of the day Monday.
Administrators will notify families of any delays or issues, according to the district's website.
Sarah LeBlanc covers the western suburbs for the Register. Reach her at 515-284-8161 or sleblanc@registermedia.com. Follower her on Twitter at @sarahkayleblanc
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Will school start in West Des Moines after hail damage?
