It’s been a little more than a month since a major flooding event in Lewis County caused damage to homes, businesses and even the school in Lowville.

The school is working hard to get things dry, cleaned and repaired in time to welcome students and staff next month, but the expenses are piling up and the district needs help.

What You Need To Know

  • Massive flooding covered parts of Lowville and Lewis County last month, damaging property, homes, businesses and even Lowville Academy and Central School District

  • The school continues to clean up and get ready for the school year, but the costs of that have already surpassed $10 million; the school is hoping FEMA will soon declare a natural disaster, so the school can be reimbursed for costs it says it just doesn't have to spend

  • The school says the effort from staff, the community, other schools and local businesses have allowed it to start the process of cleaning up and be ready to open up for staff and students next month

“My jaw just dropped. I was in total disbelief,” Lowville Academy and Central School District Superintendent Rebecca Dunckel said. “When I left, it was it was raining, but it certainly hadn't flooded."

More than nine inches fell in less than 12 hours. Rain overtook homes, businesses and Lowville's school.

“Yeah, it was quite a shock,” Dunckel said.

Dunckel says the damages have surpassed the eight-figure mark.

“We know that the price tag is going to be somewhere around $10 million. Certainly not the amount of money that any rural school district in upstate New York has,” Dunckel said.

And the remains can be seen everywhere.

“Normally at this stage in the summer, everything is waxed. Teachers have come in to put up their bulletin boards and things are getting ready,” she said.

However, this summer, the halls are full of cleanup crews. They’re not only drying the school out but also racing against the clock to get it ready for September.

“We know we have a lot of work to get students in here on time. Teachers are just very anxious to get in and do the work that they would normally do,” she added.

Dunkel says the school will indeed open on time, but maybe not fully complete.

While the gym floor needs to be replaced, the school's multimillion dollar sports complex, which was overwhelmed with water, somehow escaped any major damage and should be ready for the start of the fall sports season.

“Now to see it like this [cleaned, dried and safe] and to see the bleachers ready, we're feeling pretty positive,” Dunckel said.

The school, which has had to use its general fund to start the clean-up process, is now hopeful federal leadership comes through with a FEMA disaster declaration which will allow the expenses to be reimbursed.

“We’ll keep advocating. And eventually we'll be reimbursed. And, like we said, everything will be back to normal,” she added.

Dunckel says she was amazed at how quickly and eagerly the staff, community and local businesses offered their help and support to get the school to where it is and where it will be.

"Our community was fantastic. So many people reached out and offered to volunteer," she said. "Teachers were bringing in food for the people who were working. Other school districts have reached out and asked how they could help. So it's really just the amount of support that started to pour in really made you feel like this was a tight knit community. We had parents and community members reaching out. We had even the contractors who were working here for our capital project helped to clean up the flood. And so all of that, all of that work, all of that teamwork right away really made such a critical difference in how quickly we could do this."