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A small flood was unleashed upon Richard Montgomery High School Tuesday morning after a ball hit a sprinkler head during a game of catch, county school officials reported.

Dana Tofig, a county schools spokesman, said two students tossing around a medicine ball in the Rockville school's physical education area around 9 a.m. broke the sprinkler head, which let loose enough water to flood 14 rooms with an inch or two of water. That caused fire alarms to go off and forced students and staff to leave the building for about 25 minutes.

The county Fire and Rescue Service was able to shut off the water and pump most of it out, but fire alarms did go off once more during the day, he said.

Tofig added school officials believe the incident was an accident. Richard Montgomery Principal Nelson McLeod could not immediately be reached for comment.

The school has brought in large fans and dehumidifiers in an effort to dry out the soggy rooms. Tofig said the dance studio, a locker room and a physical education area will be closed for the rest of the week, but was unsure of the state of the rest of the rooms. He noted the dance studio is the only room believed to have sustained permanent damage and that was to its floor.

"But we won't know for sure until it's done drying out," Tofig said.