Lake Superior College recovering from flooding

About a third of the space at Lake Superior College that was flooded in last month's record-setting storm is back in use, and officials there hope to have everything back to normal by the end of next week.

A number of first-floor rooms in the college's E building -- which contains health sciences, a gym, switchboard and main entrance -- were under half an inch of water after the storm.

(You can see TV footage of the flooding on the station's Web site here.)

Gary Kruchowski, the college's public information director, said the storm caused tens of thousands of dollars in room damage -- mostly to labs for dental hygiene, physical therapy, X-rays and sonography as well as a computer/lecture hall. Little if any equipment was damaged, however.

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The flooding also prompted college officials to close down classes and clinics for the day -- a move that affected about 250 students -- and those have since been relocated.

Kruchowski said today the dental hygiene clinic and sonography clinic are now back in action.

Tests for mold should return by Monday, he said, which should give a more accurate picture of the total damage.

Kruchowski said officials still don't know exactly what caused the flooding. They think water runoff from a construction site behind the building overwhelmed the sump system.