Fall classes at Harrison gym canceled due to damage caused by Ida's remnants

There are soaked gym mats, saturated balance beams and bars still dripping with water at ISG Gymnastics more than a week after Ida.

News 12 Staff

Sep 9, 2021, 10:21 PM

Updated 967 days ago

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Fall classes at a Harrison gymnastics center are canceled after floodwaters destroyed nearly all of the gym's equipment.
There are soaked gym mats, saturated balance beams and bars still dripping with water at ISG Gymnastics more than a week after Ida.
"It was 41 inches at its highest, so you can clearly see the water came up to there," says ISG Gymnastics owner Gina Ryan.
Ryan has been upgrading the facility since she took over four years ago and saw it all destroyed in just one night.
"Once I pulled up and opened the front door and I saw the gravity of the situation - it was complete shock," says Ryan.
The damaged equipment will cost an estimated $100,000 to replace.
"It's heartbreaking, I'm devastated for the kids. We have so many kids who love coming here," says Ryan.
With so much damage, fall classes for more than 500 kids are now canceled.
Just two days before the storm, Ryan finally learned her son, who is a Marine, made it out of Afghanistan alive.
"The two weeks prior were just horrible as a parent as a family," says Ryan. "When the explosion happened, it was his battalion that was at the airport, so for 36 hours we didn't know if he was OK."
She says what she went through with her son in Afghanistan is helping her cope with the devastation.
"This is stuff, and we will rebuild, and we will be better than ever, it's just stuff. But it's still hard," says Ryan.
ISG Gymnastics is in the process of refunding fall semester fees.
Ryan says she applied for a FEMA loan and hopes to do some fundraising in the future to cover costs to rebuild.


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