Broken pipe floods school

On Monday, January 9, Parish maintenance wizzard Rod Kelly arrived at 5 a.m. as usual and started work in the church.  Even in the dark morning hours he could see that something wasn't quite right.  When did we install the gushing fountain shooting a towering spray that reached up to the windows from which he was looking?

Rushing outside, he came upon a broken water line supplying the new school classrooms.  He quickly turned off our entire water supply and set about calling for backup.  Our new angel mascot was looking over us.  Had Rod been even ten minutes later, we most likely would have lost at least one building and the office.  As it was, the damage was contained to a lost hillside and retaining wall, some crawl space flooding, and a landscape mess.

Thanks to all the parish staff and workers (especially the help of parishioner Frank Falaniko and crew) for getting to our water flood so quickly.  We had bathrooms back up and running before recess.  By the early afternooon, the pipe was repaired, the retaining wall reconstructed, the hillside filled in and landscaped, and the entire walkway power washed.   Looking at it today, you wouldn't even know anything had happened.

These pictures, though dark because of the early morning hour, give some sense of the event.