A water pipe that burst over the weekend in a building at Meridian Middle School caused extensive damage to four classrooms and left behind at least three inches of water.
The damage caused by the pipe bursting in the ceiling was discovered about 6:55 a.m. Monday, Jan. 23.
Last week’s frigid temperatures were the likely cause, according to Tim Yeomans, superintendent for the Meridian School District.
Yeomans said Monday that he didn’t yet know the full extent of the damage.
“It’s significant,” he said. “Expensive, I guess would be a good way to say it.”
An insurance adjuster will be at the school Tuesday.
Yeomans said water damaged the ceiling, walls and carpets. Photos taken by an employee showed soaked pieces of the ceiling on the ground and clumps of blackened insulation on student desks.
The building housed four classrooms and the school’s library, with Yeomans saying that it was the four-classroom pod that had extensive water damage.
About 10 staff members and 140 students who had classes in the building were relocated Monday to the middle school’s main building or Irene Reither Primary School.
No classes were canceled.
“Our folks pulled together very well,” Yeomans said.
The library wasn’t damaged, he said, adding there are no plans to move it.
Like most Whatcom County schools, classes at Meridian were canceled last week because of snow, sub-freezing temperatures and icy roads.
But staff were in the building Friday afternoon and there was no sign of trouble, Yeomans said.
“It was all normal when everybody left on Friday afternoon,” he said.
GMA KAPUSO Says: