Three schools—Humble High School, Atascocita Middle School and Deerwood Elementary School—and a portion of the district's board, business and technology center took on some minor water damage due to water systems freezing and breaking, according to HISD Chief Communications Officer Jamie Mount. Students who would normally attend classes in the damaged areas of the buildings will be temporarily relocated to other parts of the buildings, and Mount said the affected areas will be renovated with new flooring, ceilings and walls, as needed.
A fire sprinkler froze and burst at Humble High School, causing damage in two hallways of the campus, Mount said. While water was cleaned and dried out, six classrooms in the freshmen hallway as well as the dance hall and the JROTC area will be temporarily closed as repairs continue.
The band hall and choir room at Atascocita Middle School were also damaged when a hose connection on an exterior wall froze and burst, Mount said. While the woodshop also received minor damages, Mount said the shop was still able to be utilized by students.
Additionally, water from a broken pipe entered Deerwood Elementary School through the atrium, damaging the second-grade hallway. However, Mount said plans were already in place to replace the flooring and paint at Deerwood Elementary School.
At the start of the storm, HISD lowered the temperature of its buildings to limit electricity usage to help maintain the state's power grid, Mount said. However, HISD campuses lost power as outages spread across the region, which brought the temperatures of the buildings even lower and ruptured some water systems, she said. A cost estimate for the damages was not provided by press time.
"Our thanks to maintenance staff, custodians, child nutrition staff, technology staff, as well as the Humble ISD Police Department, for their continuous work checking facilities, making repairs, and restoring supplies," the district stated in a news release Feb. 19. "We are excited to welcome students and staff back to school!"
Editor's note: This article was updated with additional information on damages at Deerwood Elementary School.
