Cleanup and repairs to The Performing Arts Center at Ellsworth Jr./ Sr. High School continue after the Sept. 21 flood.

While in the immediate aftermath, events in the space were postponed, Ellsworth-Kanopolis-Geneseo USD 327 Superintendent Deena Hilbig said the cleanup is moving along and events planned for December are able to happen in the PAC. Additionally, the school’s musical will return, albeit a bit later than usual.

“Rehearsals for the musical resumed just yesterday, and the show will indeed go on,” Hilbig said via email Tuesday morning. “While new performance dates haven’t yet been set, we anticipate the production will be postponed only a few weeks to a month, depending on other school activities and the district calendar.”

Rainwater flowed into the PAC and music room from doors in the immediate area, allowing several inches of standing water into the building.

“The PAC is now completely dry. After several days of fans and dehumidifiers running continuously, the space was ready for restoration work to begin,” Hilbig said.

She said some stage props were saturated and damaged beyond repair.

“In addition, the carpet and cover base were removed, along with the stage floor and subfloor, to properly mitigate the water damage,” she said. “Anything of value that could be cleaned and sanitized was carefully salvaged and preserved.”

Hilbig said new carpet was selected Monday, and the order will be placed soon.

“In the meantime, Phoenix Restoration will begin the sanitizing process,” she said. “While I’m not sure of the exact product used, the process is done by hand, with workers scrubbing every surface — including the seating areas — to ensure a thorough clean.

“The stage curtains are also being cleaned by a company from Kansas City today. We’re hopeful this method will be effective and allow us to avoid having them removed and cleaned off-site.”

In addition to the PAC, water also infiltrated the music room.

“The band room itself sustained only minimal damage, as it has a tile floor,” Hilbig said. “The adjacent offices and two practice rooms, which were carpeted, required replacement of the flooring.

Those areas were cleaned and sanitized by Phoenix Restoration and Renovation, and new carpet has since been installed. A few shelving units will still need to be replaced, but all instruments were safe and unharmed.”

Immediately following the flood, classes from the band room had to be relocated.

“Band and choir classes were temporarily relocated,” Hilbig said. “Larger groups met in the library, while smaller classes were held in another classroom since both teachers have separate groups throughout the day.

“I want to commend Mr. Barlow and Mr. Sillmon, who came in on Sunday (Sept. 21) to help manage the water situation and move materials to alternate spaces. They’ve handled the disruption with great professionalism, ensuring students felt comfortable and learning continued smoothly, even outside their usual classrooms.”

Hilbig said those classes were able to resume in the music room Oct. 6.

Hilbig told the board of education during a special meeting Sept. 22 moisture has been an issue in those locations since she arrived about four years ago. The district is currently working through a needs assessment with HTK Architects. She added the current flooding issue to the list of items to address.

“HTK has recommended installing door stops with a neoprene gasket that automatically lowers when the door closes, helping to prevent water from entering,” Hilibg said. “I am still working to secure an engineering firm to further evaluate the issue.”

She said the architects characterized the Sept. 21 downpour as a “50-year rain event.”

“That means it was an unusually heavy storm — one so intense it has only about a 2 percent chance of happening in any given year,” Hilbig said. “The rain came down fast and hard, and because it was running off such a tall structure, the flow was even greater. It appears the drains simply couldn’t keep up with the volume of water in that short amount of time.”

During the Sept. 22 special meeting, Hilbig told the board she isn’t sure if the damage and repair will be covered by insurance.

“An insurance adjuster has visited the site, but we have not yet received a final decision,” she said. “The most important priority for the board and me was getting students back into their learning spaces, so we moved forward with restoration efforts right away.”

Progress is ongoing, and Hilbig said the new wood for the stage floor “will soon be installed.”

“While a few finishing touches may still be needed in the coming months, the good news is that the space will soon be ready for use again,” she said.