Pipe burst disrupts MHS West classes

Kris Long, Print Editor-in-Chief

A burst pipe at Manhattan High West Campus Friday morning resulted in the damage of some first and second-floor C-Hall classrooms and the main office, as well as the displacement of more than a dozen classes to common areas such as the cafeteria and Rezac Auditorium. during the school day Friday.

The pipe, which burst just after midnight early Friday morning, was part of an air-handling unit carrying heated water in the ceiling of the middle of the second-floor of C-Hall, in the corridor adjacent to the C-Hall bathrooms. The exact cause of the burst is still unknown beyond it being a simple mechanical failure, although administration said they do not believe it to be caused by the cold weather as the burst occurred in a heated area. 

“When you have a building this size, it’s unfortunate, but mechanical failures happen,” Building Principal Micheal Dorst said Friday morning. “And we don’t know the specifics as to what specific part of the unit failed, if it was just a pipe in the straight line, or was it at a joint, or was it in the unit, was it on the line going to the unit, we don’t quite know yet.”

Flooding accumulated in classrooms and hallways through the early hours of Friday morning before the clean-up effort began as staff arrived at the building around 6 a.m. The full cost of the damage is still unknown, including the impact on classrooms if equipment like computers needs to be replaced. Phoenix Reclamation — a restoration company based in Kansas City — arrived Friday afternoon to begin dehumidifying classrooms and offices. 

“[The damage] is unclear yet,” Dorst said. “Until we get teachers into the rooms and they begin to report it’s unclear.”

According to Dorst’s email to all students and parents after school Friday, repairs will continue into next week and some rooms may not be available until Wednesday or Thursday.