Photo courtesy of Tony Nubile. Southwest Minnesota State University has experienced substantial flood damage from a July storm, and continues to work on repairs. Shown above is the R/A Facility being repaired, as the previous gym floor flooded.

MARSHALL — Effects from the July 18 flooding in the city of Marshall are still apparent, as Southwest Minnesota State University is continuing to work on repairs in a series of campus damages it saw across a few sites.

Marshall saw significant flooding that brought in reports of five to eight inches of heavy rainfall over a short period, forcing a State of Emergency declaration from Mayor Bob Byrnes. Sewer infrastructure systems were overwhelmed across the city, allowing businesses, roads, houses and schools to experience flash flooding.

SMSU, in particular, is still working to repair damages it saw nearly two months after the occurrence. Flooding to the Bellows Academic Building, Recreation/Athletic (R/A) Facility, lower conference room and the track and field complex led to substantial damages.

“Our team did a remarkable job,” SMSU Director of Facilities Tony Nubile said. “We mobilized our team, and they came in … Did a phenomenal job of working as quickly as possible to get it (water) up off the floor.”

Total repair costs of all damages are expected to be near $900,000, Nubile noted, which will be paid between insurance and the university’s deductible.

Nubile said the facilities team reported promptly the next morning after the rainfall to begin using riding floor scrubbers to start moving and picking up the water, and stayed well into the overnight hours the next day and through the weekend.

Nubile, who also shared the work SMSU has been doing at last week’s Rotary Club meeting, had videos of the various campus sites that showed inches of water rippling through hallways and the athletic turf.

One of the biggest repairs to come from the flood damage is a complete renovation of the R/A Facility’s gym floor, which had to be entirely cut out, cleaned and replaced.

“About a week later from the flood, the water had absorbed on the south side of the wood. The wood absorbed it like a sponge, and tried to expand as far as it could go,” Nubile said. “It reached (the) edge (of the court), and now it can’t expand any further. So, now it finds the weak spot. This ended up being about 20 inches higher than it should have been, just on the floor.”

The flooding forced the gym floor to rise up and crack, and the concrete underneath the court was also completely absorbed with water.

“We had to get rid of the floor. So, we had to pull out the wood floor (and) we hired a restoration company to come in to cut this out, get rid of the wood, and to be able to mitigate just in case there’s any water that remained,” Nubile said. “Under that, they sprayed it down and mopped it with a chemical to ensure there’s no mold or any growth.”

The main court also had an adjacent rubber court on each side, that also absorbed too much water and had to be replaced as well.

Water piled in the hallways of the R/A Facility, coming in from both the north and south entries as it began to enter the gym.

“They just did a phenomenal job trying to get all this wood out,” Nubile said. “But, as you see, (it was) section by section, and the floor was large and heavy. It’s about 12,000 square feet of wood floor that got replaced.”

The lower conference room in the Conference Center is also being fixed up, as the entire space flooded. It hasn’t been used since the day of the storm.

The SMSU Track and Field Complex turf also lifted up, as water built up underneath.

“We had so much water that our the track and field surface up here started to wrinkle,” Nubile said. “It just lifted, because there’s so much volume trying to escape at the same time. We had to have a contractor come in to essentially cut this. They had to take all the rubber, there’s about three inches of rubber that’s in here. They had to pull that all out. They had to cut the turf, peel it, redo the base, glue it and (put it) back down and put the rubber back.”

Particularly with the R/A being closed down for repairs, SMSU sport practices, intramurals and community events have all had to be rescheduled elsewhere the last several weeks.

Notably was the recent Southwest Challenge Tournament that welcomes over two dozen volleyball teams for a weekend tournament in Marshall. SMSU’s R/A Facility is typically one site for the tournament, but it was held between Marshall High School and the Red Baron Arena this year.

The lower conference room and R/A Facility are continuing to work on repairs, and Nubile said the team has a deadline goal to have things completed and back open by the end of October.

SMSU is also a yearly host for the prep volleyball postseason section tournament, which begins toward the end of next month that the university hopes to be ready for.

Despite the necessary repairs and delay of events and projects, Nubile noted that all teams, people and companies involved have offered great service and continue to work hard as the university is seeing good progress made in a timely manner.