The main water line in the Smith Student Center broke on July 5, resulting in most of the ground floor being flooded and the building being closed until the clean-up efforts finish.
Scott Albert, assistant vice president of facilities and planning, said that about 90 percent of the ground floor was flooded.
“The main water line that comes into the building broke and the water ran onto a steam line in the mechanical room, which caused steam to go into the air which triggered the fire alarm alarm which was how we were able to find out about the leak,” Albert said.
The scheduled cleanup was originally supposed to be finished by July 7, but now has a completion date of July 10. Albert said the flooding affected a network room in the building, which led to a lot of computers on the first floor not being operable. Without operable computers, Albert said that there is no point in reopening until the computers are up and running again.
Albert said that the drying process consists of taking daily readings, with one reading showing that some areas in the building were still showing moisture, which delayed the reopening. Albert said that the first priority is to get the water out and then to start drying the structure, making sure everything has been properly sanitized and dried.
“It’s a day-by-day process,” Albert said. “We reassess the situation on a daily basis depending on how quickly the structure is drying out and how quickly we can get repairs done.”
Albert said that it was fortunate that orientations concluded last week and that there are no camps visiting, which meant that no one was impacted by the building being closed down.
The building is currently expected to be reopened on July 10.
