Flood School Set To Reopen

Thanksgiving Break Extended After 23 Classrooms Flood WINDSOR, Colo. -- Some elementary school children in Windsor are ready to go back to school after a really long Thanksgiving break. Their break was extended this week after a malfunction in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, or HVAC system, flooded 23 of the 25 classrooms at Mountain View Elementary. Four days ago, some teachers truly thought the school would be condemned after frozen pipes burst, causing major damage. "We've certainly come a long way in a short period of time," said one staff member. "This is the music teacher's office," said Mountain View principal Dan Cox while guiding 7NEWS on a tour of the school. "When we came in here there was probably three inches of water Sunday. It had drained out through here and into the gym." Teachers here are essentially piecing their rooms back together after the flood. "These coils that had frozen and broke, then thawed out and started draining water back into the building through the ceiling," said Cox. The damage was extensive. Water basically rained down from the ceiling in all but two classrooms. In one classroom, the school supplies of every single student in class were destroyed. "We had water and wet ceiling tiles laying all over the floor," said Cox. But now, the school is ready for the students to return. "It is mind boggling considering there was water running down the stairs on Sunday," said district Superintendent Karen Trusler. "At first I was really excited because we had a short week, but now it's super boring," said fifth-grade student Brett Freitag of the long break. The effort to get the school back open doesn't surprise Cox. Afterall, this is the very school that sat directly in the path of the Windsor tornado two years ago. "This staff is the most amazing group of people you'll ever meet in your life," said Cox. "When the kids arrive Thursday, it won't look complete cosmetically. There are going to be some missing ceiling tiles, some baseboards that need repaired, some drywall, but I think we can get back to learning." Early damage estimates already exceed $100,000. water damage manhattan