Lake Country's Creekside Theatre managed to survive flooding from nearby Vernon Creek, but couldn't avoid flooding caused by its own sprinkler system.
Ryan Donn, the district's Cultural Development Co-ordinator, says the cause is under investigation, because the system doesn't trigger automatically.
"Essentially about 10,000 gallons of water comes down when there's a fire, or when the 'deluge system' is triggered. Unfortunately, the system was triggered and all that water was covering the stage and the first row of seats," he says.
Donn says the damage could be extensive.
"For sure, part or all of the floor will need to be replaced. The drapes are being taken away and looked at, the lighting is being taken to be looked at, the electrical system is being looked at - it could be quite expensive or it could be just the floor. I think it could cost anywhere between $20,000 to $100,000 to fix this," he says.
Donn says he's now working to find alternate locations for 3 to 4 groups which had rented the space which has been forced to close earlier than planned this summer.
"Creekside Theatre is within George Elliot School, and they were actually going to close for a multi-million dollar upgrade to the school, so the Creekside was actually going to be closed for July and August anyways. Unfortunately, this does affect about 3 or 4 rentals that were coming up in the next 2 weeks, but other than that, it just means an extension to the close down for renovations," he says.
Donn says a similar incident happened at Creekside Theatre, about three months after it opened, and at that time the floor was replaced.