“At about 3:30 this morning, in the attic of the building, we had a connection that went bad and started flooding,” said Julie Thorson, president and chief executive officer of Friendship Haven. “Fortunately, the original issue was in an apartment that nobody was in.”

The broken sprinklers flooded several units on three floors, filling the apartments with ankle-deep water.

Thorson said the fire sprinkler system had recently been worked on.

Due to the “extensive” damage and uncertainty if the water damaged the structural integrity of the building, Friendship Haven evacuated the 55 affected residents, moving some to other apartments on the Friendship Haven campus while moving most to the Brookstone Inn on South 32nd Street, Thorson said. They were able to have everyone moved and situated by 10 a.m. on Tuesday, she said.

-Submitted photo
A sprinkler break at Kenyon Place on the Friendship Haven campus caused residents to be evacuated Tuesday.

“Everybody’s safe, nobody’s injured,” Thorson said. “We had a lot of our team come in to help with cleanup and help with residents. We paired employees up so that they were with a resident to help them get what they need out of their apartment and get them safe to where they needed to go. I was really impressed with our team members who came in to help in the wee hours of the morning.”

Thorson said the residents who have been affected are in “really good spirits” and have been understanding of the situation.

ServePro is working with Friendship Haven to clean up the water damage and insurance adjusters will be checking to see if there was any structural damage. If there is no structural damage, Thorson said she hopes residents will be back in their homes within a few days.

“Some of the ceilings were damaged, so I just don’t feel comfortable with them being in the building at all,” she said.

As for how much the damage will cost, Thorson doesn’t know yet.

“I wouldn’t even venture a guess right now,” she said. “Right now our priority is the residents, making sure everybody’s situated.”

With this happening during a global pandemic, it was like a disaster within a disaster, but Thorson said she was proud of how her staff handled it.

“When things like this happen, I didn’t have to ask our team twice,” she said. “Everybody was there, everybody showed up, they’re still helping with cleaning up. It’s just a testament to our culture.”

Thorson was appreciative of the swift response and the support from Brookstone Inn to handle housing and Amigo’s Restaurant to cater meals for the residents.

“I think that’s one of the advantages of being from a town like Fort Dodge, everybody just takes care of each other,” she said.

Thorson said there won’t be any additional charges to residents for the hotel accommodations while the apartments are being repaired and cleaned.