After South Quad flooded Monday, residents were left wondering about the safety of their belongings and their future living situations.
Members of South Quad Housing and the administration gathered students in Rutledge Chapel Wednesday night to discuss the state of their affairs. According to Leena Holt, the Assistant Director of South Campus, approximately 180 students were affected by the flood, and at least 50 of them showed up to the community meeting Wednesday to learn about the “root cause” of the flood.
Terry Perkins, Director of Facilities Operations, confirmed that the leak was caused by a ruptured coupling.
Perkins, his team and Duraclean Professional Services have been inside the building since 9 p.m. Monday night working on rectifying the situation.
“We’re trying to get all the water out of the building,” he said. They have already started replacing ceiling tiles and cutting out damaged portions of Sheetrock that they feel cannot be replaced.
The cleanup process came with the need to remove some of the residents’ possessions that they were unable to retrive in the 30 minute allotment.
“If we didn’t clear belongings, water wouldn’t be removed,” Holt said.
Students were worried about getting their things back, but she assured them that everything had been properly cared for after the incident.
The removed belongings were bagged, tagged and sent to a secure location in Green Quad in a tunnel located near building C, Holt said. Everything that they took was inventoried, and all damaged and wet clothing was sent to the dry cleaners.
All five locations of Tripp’s Fine Cleaners in Columbia are working on cleaning the clothes and getting them returned, Holt said. The university is working to call students individually as their clothes come back from the dry cleaners and are ready for pickup.
Any illegal items that were removed from the rooms will be given to USCPD, according to Holt. However, she said the names of the students to whom they belong will not be released to the police.
Joseph Fortune, the Director of Undergraduate Assignments, said that Capstone and Bates would be open as alternative housing for students who were planning to stay in South Quad during spring break.
The administrators at the meeting assured students that they would be able to get all their belongings back or be reimbursed for belongings that were damaged in the flood.
But for some students, there are still concerns about getting all of their stuff back. In the case of Abby Doty, a first-year exercise science student, she's especially worried, because she doesn’t remember exactly where everything was inside her room.
“I know yesterday I was in South Quad getting my other things when we had the allotted time. They told us, ‘Oh well, visualize what you think your room looked like before you left,’” Doty said.
Students will begin to pick up their bagged and tagged items starting Thursday at 9 a.m.
“We appreciate your patience,” Perkins said in closing.