Multiple Highlands locations are temporarily closed due to water damage caused by broken pipes, these locations include the Literacy and Learning Center and the Peggy Crosby Center which houses multiple community organizations such as the International Friendship Center, the Counseling Center of Highlands, The Center for Life Enrichment and many more.
The flooding occurred at both locations during the week of Christmas and, despite the preparations that were taken, can be attributed to the intense cold snap Highlands experienced leading up to the Christmas holiday.
“It was the sprinkler system in one of the offices,” International Friendship Center Executive Director TJ Smith said. “The Peggy [Crosby] has sprinkler systems throughout, so every office has sprinkler heads in them and they’re in the hallways, and this happened in somebody’s office. It took a while for it to be noticeable. But, I think what happened was that Suzanne Young from downstairs had come in to pick up something from her kitchen and saw the leak because it started to leak down to [the bottom] floor.”
The building closures have meant that many organizations that have been affected, including the Literacy and Learning Center and the International Friendship Center, have been forced to move their operations to temporary offices or work remotely. However, some organizations, such as the Counseling Center, have been able to continue to see clients.
“The Literacy and Learning Center was able to ‘go mobile’ during the COVID pandemic so fortunately we will be able to operate in some capacity during the repairs,” Literacy and Learning Center Executive Director Bonnie Potts said. “Employees have set up home offices, ESL programs will be held at the Presbyterian Church, and programs such as GED and individual tutoring will continue through Zoom. The Performing Arts Center has reached out and graciously offered space for individual tutoring as well. Unfortunately, the after-school program, which serves approximately 50 children, will be on hold until the building is repaired. While we are still unsure of how long this will be, our best guess is that it will be about a month.”
While cleanup crews are currently on site at the two locations, there is no official timeline for when they will be able to reopen. Potts and Smith both said they estimate that it could be a few months before the damage is fully resolved, but extended their thanks to the individuals who have aided in the cleanup efforts.
“There are quite a few people to thank for the initial cleanup efforts, including: Dabs Potts for turning off the water valve from the road, turning off the power (space heaters were still plugged in an blowing hot air while floating in water), and for buying and installing new locks to protect salvaged equipment from damage,” Potts said. “Also, Terry Watson and other employees from Bryson’s Food Store, who brought over an industrial floor mop and volunteered their time remove the majority of the water from the floor, Al Bolt, property manager, and Shawn Fisher, caretaker of Highlands Plaza buildings who were extremely attentive and caring for our wellbeing. They immediately jumped to action to arrange for plumbers and an HVAC company to repair the furnace that was damaged by the flooding. Also ServePro, who came in immediately to help. After assessing the damage, ServePro removed all flooring in the building and the ceiling tiles that had been affected by the burst pipe, then provided industrial fans throughout the building. The crew worked extremely hard and extremely fast and were able to dry the concrete floors quickly.”
Additionally, Smith wished to highlight the outpouring of support and aid given to all the affected organizations by many Highlands community partners, such as the PAC, The Church of the Good Shepherd and the Highlands Chamber of Commerce/Visit Highlands, NC.
“The response from some of our community partners has been really great,” Smith said. “Mary Adair Trumbly from the PAC reached out to all of us in an email and said, ‘hey, it’s not ideal but we have space here if you need to come set up a temporary office.’ They have dressing rooms and space over there and she opened her doors to anything that people needed. The same went for the Church to Good Shepherd, they were looking to help provide private spaces for [the counseling center] to do their therapy sessions if needed. The Chamber also opened up their conference room to us [for our larger meetings] like our board meetings and stuff like that. It’s just nice to have those other people, other organizations, other spaces in the community saying, ‘hey, we’re here and we’re willing to help’.”