Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

New River Community Action employee Nelthia Barton looks over the water-damaged Head Start classroom space in Floyd. Because of the damage, Head Start will transition for the rest of the academic year to a home-based program, meaning teachers will travel to the homes of the children who participate in the preschool program.

Water drips from the ceiling and collects on the floor below in the Head Start classroom space in the New River Community Action Floyd County Area offices building. The building has been experiencing leaks for some time, said Terry Smusz, executive director of NRCA.

Judy Weitzenfeld, co-director of the Floyd Retired Senior Volunteer Program, makes measurements in what will soon become her office in the former dormitory of the Jacksonville Center for the Arts. The current RSVP office in the New River Community Action building has been damaged by water leaking from the roof.

| Mary Hardbarger

mary.hardbarger@roanoke.com, 381-1679

FLOYD -- Significant water damage caused by a leaking roof at a Floyd building will force numerous community organizations to relocate temporarily.

Today, employees of programs inside the flat-roofed New River Community Action's Floyd County Area Office will move.

They will be up and running at the new location Monday, said Terry Smusz, NRCA executive director.

At a meeting Feb. 18, the NRCA board of directors took action to move the offices to a dormitory on the Jacksonville Center for the Arts campus.

The damaged building facilitates the Floyd Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Floyd Head Start, Children's Health Improvement Partnership, SHARE, Emergency Assistance and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. The building also is often used for community events outside the organizations.

The building, which previously operated as a medical clinic, is owned by New River Community Action of Floyd Inc. In it, there are several rooms, office spaces, bathrooms and a larger space used as a community center area.

On Thursday afternoon, buckets were placed in almost every room of the building, as water dripped from the ceiling and collected on the floor below.

On top of the building, a pool of water several inches deep spread across the roof.

Smusz said although she didn't have an exact timeline of when the first leak occurred, she did know that a group of professionals visited the site to take a look at the roof weeks ago. They assessed that the initial damage to the roof was caused by a hail storm that occurred last spring.

Smusz said they proceeded to make significant repairs, but the continued pileup of snow over the next several weeks caused the roof to leak again.

NRCA officials have filed a claim with their insurance company, and Smusz said she is hopeful that will prove to be of some assistance. No damage estimate was available.

Nelthia Barton and Lindsey Watkins, both employees of NRCA, were at the building Thursday, packing boxes and organizing their belongings.

They both said they'd eventually like to come back to the building but were happy that the programs would continue to be housed together at the new location.

"We're excited to move," Barton said. "But there's just so much."

Because the dormitory is smaller than the NRCA building, Barton said, some items must be put away in storage. Items that aren't moved to the new location will be stored in a tractor trailer donated to NRCA by West Milk Hauling.

Both Barton and Smusz encourage the community to step up today and help with the big task of moving the desks, chairs and boxes of supplies that fill the rooms and hallways.

"People have been receptive to the situation," Barton said. "Floyd comes to aid when you need it."

While the majority of the programs will operate out of the new location, some of the services will be adjusted, Smusz said.

The Floyd SHARE program will be operating out of the Floyd County Rescue Squad. The Floyd Head Start Program will transition for the rest of the academic year to a home-based program, meaning teachers will travel to the homes of the children who participate in the preschool program. All socialization activities for Floyd Head Start will be held at Floyd Baptist Church.

Smusz said the board's long-term plan will be to continue to assess the situation and to hire engineers to do a thorough inspection of the building.

She said the board's primary concern is to continue providing NRCA services to the Floyd community.

"We're committed to that," she said.