Flooding could push back the first day of school at Baldwinsville Christian Academy

BALDWINSVILLE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — It has been nearly three weeks since heavy rainfall caused severe flooding in parts of Onondaga County, damaging homes and businesses. Now, it’s even affecting the first day of school for students at Baldwinsville Christian Academy.

Pastor David McCarthy and his wife captured video on their phone the night of August 7, after heavy rains swept through parts of Baldwinsville Christian Academy.

“We literally walked downstairs into the water, and that was over on the other side of the building, and wandered through. And I was taking video of all the rooms, and my wife’s response was ‘Oh my word’ over and over again. It was difficult because we knew this was going to be hard to rebound from,” McCarthy said.

High waters flooded hallways, classrooms and even the school’s cafeteria. Carpets were left soaked.

Nine classrooms were damaged on the lower level of the school, with heavy rain making its way through the tile and wood flooring, leaving behind nearly $90,000 worth of damage.

“The first thing we needed to do is get the water out of here. There’s no way we were going to do it ourselves,” said McCarthy.

Less than 24 hours later, the school called in Servpro to help get rid of the water. Once Servpro was done, school officials got to work. The cleanup quickly turned into a community effort.

“We’ve had students come in, the people from my church who could come in,” said McCarthy. “We’ve had a small army of people helping, volunteering to get this fixed.”

Even teachers came in to help with the cleanup.

A team effort that was so great that Baldwinsville Christian Academy plans, for now, on welcoming students back for the first day on September 7.

McCarthy says they will continue to clean up until the first day of school. If the date changes, students and families will be notified.

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