When the video is sped up, it looks like a wall of water rolling down the halls of Heritage Elementary School.
The district believes a fire sprinkler busted, set off the alarm system and flooded classrooms for 200 students.
“When it blew it blew and the water came really fast. We were lucky that we were here at school at the time to address it and get the restoration company and the insurance people contacted in a hurry," said Randy Underwood with Tahlequah Public Schools.
Underwood said water went into the walls.
“We'll be in rooms without carpet for a few days and the restoration people will come back and fix what needs to be fixed.”
The district was already out for Christmas break and administrators extended the break for all the schools by two days.
Teachers are going to work throughout the weekend so students will be ready for school on Monday.
Tahlequah parent Stacy Holcolmb said she didn't seem to mind the extra days off for her son.
“It's been fine. He's 14 years old, so he's at home and he works too, so that gave him extra working time," said Holcolmb.
The district said it's using two built in snow days to cover the days off.
“Our main concern is to get kids back in school, but at the same time have good quality education at all times while we're here. In the old days you might put the kids in the gym or something like that and we don't want to do that. We don't want to lose days of instruction," said Underwood.
“I thought it was kind of strange to shut the whole school down, but I could understand with school being out they have to have all the other have the same timing too, so it was understandable," said Holcolmb.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Download our free app for Apple and Android and Kindle devices.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox. Select from these options: Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines and Daily Forecasts.
