POCATELLO — An uncharacteristically warm and dry December took an unexpected turn Friday morning when two School District 25 schools closed for what you might call a “water day” rather than a typical snow day for this time of year.

Two separate water main breaks forced the closure of Hawthorne Middle School and Indian Hills Elementary School affecting hundreds of students.

Pocatello Public Works Director Tom Kirkman said the more significant break involved the complete rupture of a 12-inch main line at the intersection of Pole Line and Eldredge roads in north Pocatello around 5 a.m. Authorities asked the public to avoid the Pole Line and Eldredge area while repair crews worked.

The burst line caused water to engulf the nearby Idaho Power substation parking lot, triggering a Bannock County emergency alert urging residents near Hawthorne to temporarily shelter in place.

“It pushes a lot of water,” Kirkman said about the 12-inch main line. “It happened right in front of the Idaho Power substation right there on the corner, so there was water running across that parking lot.”

Kirkman said the shelter-in-place order was issued out of an abundance of caution because authorities were concerned about standing water near the power facility. He noted that the overflowing water posed no immediate danger to Idaho Power’s elevated equipment.

A 6:23 a.m. emergency alert notified residents that the water at Pole Line and Eldredge had been shut off but urged caution.

Kirkman said the main break was isolated rather quickly, initially affecting only three nearby properties, but the total number of units without water grew to about 30 when workers shut off another valve in the vicinity to begin repairs to the system. He said the water department maintained positive pressure in the lines during repairs to prevent backflow contamination, allowing the city to avoid issuing a boil order.

School District 25 spokesperson Courtney Fisher said Hawthorne Middle School, which had not yet begun instruction for the day, was closed after receiving reports from city officials that the school would be without water.

“At the time we made the call, we were unaware of how long it was going to take for them to fix it,” Fisher said. “Once we make that decision, we don’t reverse the call..”

A few hours after the first incident, a pinhole leak developed in a water main near Indian Hills Elementary School on South Cheyenne Avenue, Kirkman said. He said the break required shutting off water to the school to assess damages and begin repairs.

Indian Hills was already in session when the water line failed. District officials decided to close the school early and escorted students to a reunification site at the nearby Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building at 5425 S. Bannock Highway.

“Because of where the water line break was, the pickup and drop-off line exit would have been impacted,” Fisher said. “We decided to follow our reunification protocols.”

The reunification process required parents to show photo identification before retrieving their children from the church. Fisher said almost all students had been picked up by 10:47 a.m., with staff remaining with the few students whose parents needed more time to arrive.

“We got lots of compliments from parents, and it seems like it went pretty well,” Fisher said. “The weather helped with it being 50 degrees outside on Dec. 12.”

All other School District 25 schools remained open Friday and Fisher said the district is pleased with its decision to use the reunification location because the site of the repair work would have created significant logistical challenges for the pick-up process.

Kirkman said both breaks were isolated incidents unrelated to one another.

“This is just one of those situations where breaks happen,” he said. “We have 300 miles worth of pipe, and sometimes we just have failures. Stuff gets old and it breaks.”

The broken section of the 12-inch main at Pole Line and Eldredge was removed later Friday morning, and crews are working to install a replacement. Kirkman said he expected all affected residents to have water service restored by Friday evening.