FARMINGTON – Tens of thousands of dollars in damage was done to the Community Center Thursday after a roof draining system failed. Water flowed down through the gym ceiling to the basement floor.

It has caused “extensive damage,” Town Manager Dick Davis said. “Somebody’s going to pay for the damage but not the taxpayers.”

Davis had contacted the town’s insurance company, which planned to send an adjuster to the site.

Water continued to drip through the ceilings during the morning hours. Firefighters and the Recreation Department crew worked to get water off the floors. Firefighters also took down a portion of the wet ceiling where the drain had let go near a steel beam.

Among the damaged items were computers, ceiling tiles, insulation, floors, rugs, items on desks, walls, paperwork and more.

It is “safe to say there is tens of thousands of dollars” worth of damage, Davis said.

Whether the boards on the hardwood gym floor would cup was a major concern to Recreation Director Steve Shible.

Davis said it would take about week to determine whether the gym floor sustained damage. If the boards warp, it could run about $40,000 more or less to replace the floor, Shible said.

Davis said he was not sure why the drain system failed. The system was installed two years ago at a cost of $5,700 by RPH of Jay and has worked fine until Thursday, Davis said.

The building has a flat roof and water drains through grates on the roof and flows down through a system of PVC plastic pipes, Davis said. The system carries the water under the roof but above the ceiling and down through the building until it drains in back of the building.

Davis said there was about 2 inches of water on the floor when he arrived Thursday morning.

Between 9 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. Thursday, the Farmington area received about 1.61 inches of rain, said Farmington selectman Dennis Pike, who is also an observer for the National Weather Service.

Shible said a custodian arrived about 9 a.m. and put two trash barrels under the flow of water. The custodian went up to the catwalk above the gym and found the problem and propped a baseball bat under the pipe to prop up the elbow, Shible said, to try to slow the water.

As Shible showed the damage of the building, puddles of water still remained on the floor despite efforts to clear it.

Water squished from carpets in offices downstairs and dripped from ceiling tiles and light fixtures. Insulation was saturated. The power had been turned off in the building.

Shible and Davis both said they hope the building won’t be closed for long.

Shible also noted that anyone that didn’t get a chance to register for the youth soccer program could do so Sunday at Prescott Field prior to practice.

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