EVERETT, Wash. — Roads ran like rivers late Monday after two brief storms blasted North Everett. Water backed up into classrooms, locker rooms, music rooms, the theater and Performing Arts Center at Everett High School, forcing an abrupt closure.
Math teacher Kristin Gebert watched the water rise at her nearby home.
"I've never seen a rain like this," she said. "Somebody with a rain gauge in our neighborhood said we had something like 4 inches of rain over the course of the day."
Workers spent Tuesday drying and disinfecting the five school buildings impacted.
School officials deemed the damage "superficial."
They also said the situation could've been much worse if the storms had lasted longer.
North Everett is notorious for flooding.
"I'm pretty sure the neighborhood here in North Everett is going to have a lot to say about that," said School Facilities Director Mike Gunn. "We would absolutely like the system to have the capacity so that this wouldn't happen."
Everett Public Works officials said two hour-long storms, at 12:30 and 5:30 p.m., dumped more than 3.5 inches on rain over just a few blocks on Monday.
Part of West Marine View Drive was shut down Tuesday so crews could repair pipes damaged from the deluge.
The city has made significant improvements to its storm water systems in recent years, however, Public Works spokeswoman Kathleen Baxter said the department couldn't plan for this.
"The city has been building a system that should be able to manage what you can expect in a 100-year flood event," she said. "This one was more than twice that."
School officials said there would be school on Wednesday. They are still trying to determine how to make up this rare "rain day" later in the year.
