BLOOMING GROVE, Texas — The Blooming Grove Independent School District is canceling classes for the rest of the week after getting storm damage Sunday night.
Officials posted on the district's Facebook page Monday about the closure. Classes are expected to resume Monday, Oct. 2. The Blooming Grove district is located in Navarro County, west of Corsicana.
Clean up efforts are in full swing.
“They’ve cut out the dry wall to cut out anything of the dry wall that may have possibly been wet,” district Superintendent Rick Hartley said. “They're getting in, getting to work.”
Contractors have spent the week patching the roof, making flood cuts and airing out moisture.
“Across the ceiling are these large clear tubes with lots of warm air rushing through,” said Hartley.
Sunday’s storm sent baseball-size hail pummeling down on the small community forcing the school district’s roughly 950 students to stay home all week.
Thursday, Hartley showed WFAA’s Janel Forte around the high school – which took the worst beating.
“When I walked in the foyer the night of the storm, I saw all the water and all the downed tiles and I knew we were in trouble,” he said.
Large chunks of hail had torn through the school’s roof, creating a big mess.
“A thousand holes is not an exaggeration, so all the rain that came with that storm, it didn't blow off, it didn't evaporate, it didn't come down the drains it went. Into our building,” he said.
The water filled hallways, the cafeteria and classrooms at both the high school and junior high.
The district is working hard to get its campuses safe enough for class to resume while they work out a long term fix.
“Monday were gonna try to put it back, and be ready Tuesday for kids,” said Hartley.
The tab for the damage to the roof and school buses has already topped $2.5 million dollars, and that’s before factoring in the rebuild. Hartley says insurance will help, but some of those funds will have to come from elsewhere.