The Kootenai County Fairgrounds has a new swim area and "floating pub" — or at least it looked that way after a fire hydrant broke from the water line Wednesday afternoon.

Fairgrounds general manager Dane Dugan said he was in a meeting around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when he learned water had flooded the area by the main gate, just inside Gate B1, and around the Pub Building. While he was glad no real damage was done, Dugan said it seems like the fairgrounds "can't catch a break."

"We are just now finishing up some of the repairs from the windstorm that happened last year — the contractor left (Wednesday) right about noon — and then this happened," Dugan said.

Dugan said "it was bad," but preventative measures were taken immediately, such as stuffing under the doors of the pub building, to minimize the damage.

Terry Pickel, water superintendent for the Coeur d'Alene Water Department, said one of the fire hydrants broke during annual maintenance.

"We don't know exactly what happened other than when they were turning the hydrant on, something broke and it blew itself off the water line," Pickel said.

He said it was an old hydrant, so a new one was installed and city workers had everything fixed and nearly back to normal Thursday.

"I'm glad that it happened with my operators here because if it happened during a fire or during an event, it would have been a mess," Pickel said.