How Bad Did the Floods Damage Broward Schools? Here's a Look Inside

One week after the historic rains, the Broward County Public Schools district has completed its assessment of flood-damaged schools and the repair estimate is $10 million, concentrated largely in nine schools.

“We had to cancel the show,” said Angeline Flowers, principal of Parkway Middle School, as she showed her damaged auditorium to a group including the media and school board members.

One of the nine most heavily damaged schools, Parkway is a performing arts magnet and its theatre had dramatic damage.

“The screen was damaged, as we were about to do the performance there was a leak on the stage, you can see those two areas, it was raining actually on the stage as well as right over above your head, that light, it was a flow coming down with rain so we got hit pretty hard in regards to our area where our scholars perform at,” Flowers said.

Another one of the hardest-hit schools is Stranahan High School. Its auditorium flooded with three feet of water. It looks like it’s in the process of demolition. The carpet and more than half the seats had to be ripped out, ruined by the deluge.

Down the hall, the flooding devastated the book storage room. The floor is strewn with garbage bags full of soggy, unusable books. The fitness room’s special gym floor is gone, it was unsalvageable after being inundated with a foot of water.

“We have suffered some losses, but I’m gonna tell you I have the most resilient student body anywhere, my kids have been great about working around the spaces and understanding and patient with us and one another,” said Stranahan principal Michelle Padura.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away at the private, non-profit Jack and Jill Center, they’re looking for donations to help the families who rely on their services beyond the Pre-K through elementary school on the premises. The kids there are entirely low-income, and one teacher told us many of the families suffered extensive losses in the floods.

“They bring that into the classroom, how can they learn, how can they try to do their work when they’re thinking about mom and dad and everything that they’ve lost?” said teacher Arlene Rodriguez.

Broward County Public Schools is hoping for help to cushion the repair bills.

“We look to the state and our federal friends to help us with some of this recovery effort,” said school board member Debbi Hixon.

She and the other board members who toured schools Thursday, Sarah Leonardi and Dr. Jeff Holness, each pointed out that the staff at the damaged schools worked all last weekend to get their campuses ready for students to come back on Monday.