The coldest weather the county has seen in years has left many children without a place to go after school.

The Cawood Ledford Boys and Girls Club executive Director Kateena Haynes said over the weekend water pipes in the center’s ceiling were able to freeze and burst flooding the main room ruining several club items.

Haynes said they have decided to close the club this week while they work on repairing and cleaning the mess left behind.

“The cold temperatures and the way we had to have our pipes in the attic because of the way we built on the concrete slab, we couldn’t put them down there,” Haynes said. “The frigid temperatures caused them to rupture and bust. The pipes were all insulated but we don’t know how many were ruptured at the time.”

Haynes said she received a call over the weekend from the security monitoring company informing her the building alarm had been activated and was going off. When she arrived she discovered the ceiling in the main room was bulging and leaking due to a build up of water from the busted pipes. As she continued examining the center she also discovered leaking in the art room and a flooded floor in the exercise room.

“By the end of the evening yesterday (Sunday) we had probably 20 leaks here,” said Haynes.

Haynes said water was cascading down the wall in the art room and even out of some of the electrical outlets located along the wall. She said water had built up and flooded the floor, ruining many art supplies children used at the center.

Haynes said her and the clubs staff have already began working to clean up the water from the carpets and assess the damage. She said the staff has emptied close to 100 gallons of water not including the amount that already leaked into the club.

“Our insurance will cover it but we have a really high deductible, our deductible is $2,500 and we’ve not budgeted for that at all. We had no idea something like this was going to happen,” Haynes said.

Haynes explained the Harlan Fire Department came in turning off the breakers since water had been leaking from many of the different outlets. She also said the center was without heat on Sunday and still currently without water.

Haynes said the insurance adjuster inspected the damage saying 75 percent of the ceiling in the main room would need to be replaced and possibly all of the insulation. She said the entire cost of the damage is still unknown because much of the building would have to be inspected such as the electrical system and fire system.

“I have no real idea of the damage right now but our insurance agent guessed at about $8,000,” said Haynes.

Haynes said the building is still brand new and this accident is just a one-in-a-million occurrence.

Haynes said anyone who would like to donate can do so at the club or mail donations. For more information about how you can help call 573-0960.