While the floor looks fine from a distance, Penn State Altoona spokesman Tim Kershner examines dirt and warped boards caused by a flash flood last Friday. Mirror photo by Russ O’Reilly

Mother Nature doesn’t care about expensive new things.

When the ribbon was cut Oct. 28, 2017, at the renovated $24 million Adler Athletic Complex at Penn State Altoona, probably no one would have guessed that one of its key features, a new gymnasium floor, would have to be torn out two years later.

But a week ago, stormwater tried a fast break across the hardwood, and campus employees went on defense with mops, squeegees and brooms.

Although the water didn’t run past half court, the entire floor must be replaced. And to do that, the bleachers must be removed.

Insurance will cover the cost, which has not yet been calculated, campus officials said. But it still presents an inconvenience to students.

“You can only control what you can control,” said John Carey, Penn State Altoona coordinator of intramural and recreational sports.

Women’s volleyball will start in September, he said. The team’s home matches will have to be at the auxiliary gym, which is the old gym that was left from the original building.

Water rushed downhill last Friday into the valley where the campus sits. Then it entered through the back doors of the gymnasium addition that was built onto the original athletic center.

The cleanup effort ended Wednesday, campus spokesman Timothy Kershner said. And though the floor looks fine, it’s not.

The gym floor was designed to be a ‘floating’ floor, he said, no pun intended.

A floating floor means there is space between the floorboards and the concrete base below the floorboards. There is now water filling that space, Carey said.

Carey said risk management from Penn State’s University Park campus determined the floor is already warping and must be replaced.

There is no timeline for when the repairs will begin or end, Kershner said. Classes at Penn State Altoona begin Aug. 26, so kinesiology classes and intramural sports will take place at the auxiliary gym.

“We are just now getting estimates and talking with vendors,” he said.

Floors at other buildings including Port Sky Cafe also flooded, but there was no real damage, Kershner said.

The only other damage caused by the storm a week ago was to the roof of the Laurel Pavilion. A branch from one of the large trees in the campus mall fell on it, Kershner said.

The pavilion roof is also slated to be replaced, with the cost covered by insurance.