Floodwaters cleared from Sandy school, damages may be less than feared

Water that gushed from a broken irrigation sprinkler into Sandy's Eastmont Middle School had been cleared and many of the initial fears about extensive damages alleviated as of Thursday.

Canyons School District spokeswoman Jennifer Toomer-Cook said insurance representatives had yet to complete damage assessments from the flooding that occurred in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday, but district officials were optimistic about having classrooms ready when students return on Aug. 20.

The school, located at 10100 S. 1300 East, is generally situated in a bowl. Early Wednesday morning, an irrigation sprinkler on the higher lawn level broke, sending a cascade of water into the lower-level of the school and into its gymnasium, auditorium and several classrooms.

"Pretty much all the water and mud have been taken care of, dried up," Toomer-Cook said. "We've shut off all the power, and it will remain off until [repairs] are done."

Early on, some estimates for potential damage went as high as $500,000, but on Thursday it appeared that amount may turn out to be inflated.

Insurance adjusters were just beginning their assessments, Toomer-Cook said.

Initially, the flood left 1-2 inches in the lower-third of the school, with up to 18 inches pooled near the auditorium stage immediately after the flooding was discovered.

On Thursday, district officials found that most of the affected flooring was vinyl, rather than carpet, and the walls were constructed of cinder blocks rather than sheetrock.

"That mitigates the damage somewhat," Toomer-Cook said.

However, she declined to speculate on a dollar amount for actual damages at this time.

remims@sltrib.com

Twitter: @remims