Some athletic facilities at Columbia County Schools take heavy damage from Helene

EVANS, Ga. (WJBF) – Columbia County students went back to the classroom Wednesday, but some athletic facilities are off limits due to heavy damage from Hurricane Helene.

At Tuesday’s school board meeting , we found out the athletic facilities took the hardest hit from Helene.

We took a tour at Evans and Grovetown High Schools—the two school leaders tell us got the worst of the damage.

“This is the first time I’ve ever experienced it in all my years in the area and education,” said Athletics Director Chris Hughes.

Evans’ historic baseball field saw horrific damage—the scoreboard is now destroyed, and the batting cage is torn to shreds.

“It’s completely gone—it’s hanging from trees in the neighborhood. We’ve lost scoreboards, our batter’s eye here is down. So, we’ve taken significant damages to our baseball facilities,” Hughes said.

At Grovetown High School, the fencing around the tennis courts are also completely destroyed just three months after the courts were resurfaced.

It’s the same story at the baseball and softball fields.

“You see all around campus with the athletic facilities, they lost a lot of their fencing. It’s strange how it kind of picked and chose which part of the fencing came down and which part didn’t,” said Hughes.

There is not a timeline on when repairs will be made, or how much everything will cost.

The school district continues to meet with an insurance company to assess the damage, but leaders are confident facilities will be fixed in time for upcoming seasons.

“Our facilities and maintenance people and our superintendent are still meeting to assess the damage to figure out what that total is going to be,” the athletic director added.

“We know that baseball starts right around the corner in January, and we want to make sure these facilities are straight before they get back on the field. But right now, we’re just focused on getting kids back, keeping kids safe, and making sure that all of our athletic facilities are taken care of.”

Construction also continues at Evans High School as part of the 10-year building program.

School leaders confirm that all construction projects remain on schedule, and no major impacts from Helene.

Starting next week, the Columbia County School District will resume community presentations on the 10-year plan.

They will take place at the following locations and times:

• October 15th, 2024: Lakeside High School at 5:30 PM
• October 28th, 2024: Evans High School at 5:30 PM
• October 29th, 2024: Greenbrier High School at 5:30 PM
• October 30th, 2024: Harlem High School at 5:30 PM

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