Photo Courtesy Dr. Jon Tienhaara - South Bend School District employees and volunteers helped out to make sure Koplitz Field House didn't flood the way it did seven years ago.
SOUTH BEND - Last week's heavy rainfall, snow-melt runoff and fierce winds thwacked the South Bend School District buildings with fierce force. It closed the schools for two days (Thurs. and Fri.), which will be made up at the end of the school year. Fortunately, a quick response helped prevent significant damage.
"We had water over almost the entire campus," South Bend Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jon Tienhaaran told the Herald Saturday. "Crews worked all night on Thursday, running pumps and mopping up water as it entered through the front doors of Koplitz Field House. After 6:00 a.m., the water began to recede. Koplitz Field House was dry with no water reaching the wood floor.
"I want to thank all the community folks who came out on a moment's notice to help us fill sandbags and move them over to the gym," Tienhaara said. "I also want to recognize Wyatt Kuiken and our maintenance department for all their work and long hours managing the water. Without these efforts, Koplitz Field House would have had water on our wood floor."
Seven years ago the field house had its floor ruined by flooding. "You might recall the last major flooding event we had in January of 2015," Tienhaara said. "At that event, we had about seven inches of rain in 24 hours, and all the runoff from the hills flooded the flats of South Bend. In conjunction with high tides, we had water over our gym floor for over 48 hours, which resulted in a total loss.
"Last week, we had only four inches of rain, but we had a whole lot of snowmelt in the hills, which created the same significant runoff," Tienhaara pointed out. "We learned a lot from our 2015 flood and we were better prepared. We had pumps running early on, we sealed all drains inside the building, and we implemented our new water dam, which is a 60-foot long rubber self-standing barrier. This slowed the water down at the front of the gym and allowed us to pump between the back of the barrier and the doors.
"We also blocked First Street with our school buses, stopping the vehicle traffic that was creating waves into the building," Tienhaara continued. "The little water that did enter the building was easily vacuumed up. The difficult part is that our crew had to run the pumps and vacuums all night long. They did an amazing job and I am very proud of their efforts. Without their efforts, we would have lost the gym floor, I know that for certain.
"I also want to recognize the city public works crew for all of their preparation," Tienhaara said. "The city storm drains were prepped and ready; this made a huge difference early on. If it were not for the extreme high tides and the runoff, I am confident the storm drains would have handled the water. There just wasn't anywhere for the water to go once the bay and river were full. The wind didn't do us any favors either, and held up the tide."
One campus building got flooded, the bus shop. "That building sits so low, it floods almost every year," Tienhaara said. "All our other buildings remained dry, including the new elementary school. We had lots of folks asking about the new school, which was built at the new required flood height. The water was nowhere close to entering Mike Morris Elementary."