Griswold School District Superintendent Dana Kunze said today that the students and staff at the Lewis Elementary building were evacuated for a short time this morning, after a strange, unidentified smell was noticed in and around the building.  The smell was first noticed at around 10-a.m. Kunze says following the procedure for a gas leak evacuation, the students and staff walked to a safe location to await the investigation of the elementary school to be complete.

An employee of Black Hills Energy arrived within minutes,  and eliminated the possibility a natural gas leak had occurred. With the building cleared and the odor having dissipated students and staff were allowed to return to the building at 10:45-a.m. Kunze says the source of the odor was a combination of “agriculturally-related,” and a dry drain. He says when drains dry-up, the trap system doesn’t work as it should, so there was an internal smell.

Kunze says the evacuation went perfectly. Parents were notified of the incident through the school’s text message alert system.