West Central Valley WildcatWest Central Valley School District officials cancelled school at Stuart Elementary on Wednesday due to flooding.

Superintendent Dr. David Arnold says after the heavy rainfall that the City received on Tuesday night, he believes the City’s waste water pipes were full and that caused the building’s drainage system to back up and flooded hallways and seven-to-eight classrooms.

He states that since there was one-to-three inches of standing water inside the classrooms, they had no choice but to close the school for everyone’s safety.  Arnold points out that the damage was limited to the carpet squares that are in each classroom.

School was back open on Thursday, with the damaged classrooms still getting dried out and treated so that mold doesn’t grow.  In the meantime, Arnold comments that those classes have been moved to other open classrooms and at the nearby First Congregational Church.  He anticipates that the classrooms will be back open by Monday.

Arnold notes that the district is covered under their insurance, EMC Insurance and adds that any materials in the classrooms that were also damaged, will also be replaced.

He wants to look at the drains and see if check values were put in place to prevent any future problems like what was experienced on Wednesday.

However, this situation isn’t unique for Arnold.  He says nine years ago, at the same building, a sewer system had backed up which caused a similar issue.  He jokingly says that luckily, this time it was sewer water.

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