Murphy Elementary School Reopens After Round Lake Flooding
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An elementary school that was damaged by severe flooding in Round Lake last month opened for the start of the new school year on Monday.
Murphy Elementary School was a mess after torrential rains in mid-July. Four feet of water flooded the computer lab, library, music room, and gym.
After the water cleared out, the bottom floor had to be cleaned.
"They took out all the floor tile, cleaned out all the mud," principal Dr. Phil Georgia said.
Air quality was the next issue.
"We've had these huge machines that are just pumping hot, dry air into the building," Georgia said.
After running the machines several days, the school got the all clear, but then the issue was getting classrooms back in order.
The entire school hasn't reopened yet. Part of the building remained blocked off on Monday, but classrooms were open.
"It's really exciting to be back," Georgia said.
He said the theme for the first day of class was making lemonade out of lemons.
"We've been prepping for this for many weeks now, and to know that we have smiling kids coming in the building, happy parents, it's just really fulfilling," he said.
Georgia said it took a lot of hard work to get the school open in time for classes. So much so, the school hadn't updated its voice mail message, which still said Murphy is closed Monday morning.
"We will get on that right away," he said.