Flooding from a broken pipe has forced a Rose Park elementary school to close for two days while crews mop up the mess.
Water poured into the Guadalupe School at a rate of two to three gallons per minute for at least 18 hours after a pipe burst in a second-floor classroom Friday night, FOX 13 reported on Monday. The water flowed into some downstairs classrooms, where an alarm went off Saturday.
Kindergarten through 6th grade classes were canceled Monday and Tuesday — a particular hardship in a charter school where more than 90 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunches, administrators said. Many come from homes where parents are working two or even three jobs, and can’t easily get days off work.
“I feel like when they do miss a day it’s not just important in the fact that they’re missing school, but they’re just, maybe they don’t have meals at home, or just this might be their safe place to come: so it is disheartening that we do have to cancel school over this,” 6th grade teacher Victoria Williams told FOX 13. The flood began in Williams’ classroom.
Many of the school’s teachers and other staff spent Easter Sunday trying to help clean up after the massive flood.
Administrators said that they won’t have damage estimates for at least another day.
Adult classes at the school remain underway.
See more at FOX 13.
Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune and FOX 13 are content-sharing partners.
(Courtesy FOX 13) A flood at Salt Lake City's Guadalupe School forced the cancelation of classes for two days starting Monday, April 22, 2019. The flood was caused by a pipe that burst in a second-floor classroom.