Howard College Board discusses weekend flooding Monday

Herald Staff Writer

During their meeting Monday,

Howard County Junior College District trustees discussed flooding at

Howard College's Big Spring campus caused by Sunday morning's thunderstorm with hail.

“On Sunday morning when that storm hit, it obviously must have been more intense on this part of town, so the college campus, we did experience a lot of rain,” said Howard College President

Dr. Cheryl Sparks. “The buildings that were most affected were the Coliseum, the McKinney Center, and the Horace

Garrett Center. Now, the other buildings, we had some leaks or some water issues, whatever you want to call it.”

Sparks said flooding from the storm forced open the large service door on the east side of Dorothy Garrett Coliseum, allowing the pooled water to flood the Coliseum floor.

“What happened, in the Coliseum there's that ramp on the east side,” Sparks said. “The amount of water that was coming down, it started going down that ramp. Eventually, what ended up happening, we have that door that we had pulled down. We do have a drain there, but because of the debris, the water started building up, and then eventually what it did was, it bowed the door. That water then went into the Coliseum, and went all the way back to the dressing rooms on the west side.”

Sparks said water was standing about three inches deep across the floor of the Coliseum. Sump pumps in the Coliseum were unable to handle the volume of water.

Dr. Sparks said calls about flooding started coming in from the school's dormitories about 3 a.m. Sunday morning.