Several students whose South Quad rooms were affected by Monday’s flood were told they won’t know the status of their damaged belongings until Friday.
The bagged-and-tagged system removed students’ belongings from their rooms if they were damaged due to water saturation. This included clothing and even students’ computers and backpacks.
When Faith Rutz, a first-year art studio student, went to retrieve some of her belongings from South Quad, she found that her computer was missing, leaving behind a dry spot on their otherwise-soaked kitchen table.
“I wish they gave me a receipt or something,” she said regarding the missing laptop.
When she went to check on the status of the computer Tuesday night, they told her they weren’t sure if it was being fixed or if it was even able to be repaired. Housing told her they would let her know when they found out about its status.
According to Rutz, her roommate's room from the across the hallway was a mess and looked as if things had been tossed around, definitely not the way she left it.
The students affected by the flood have largely been communicated with through their university emails as well as periodic updates on the Housing website.
“We have a meeting [Wednesday] night at five to give us more info about what’s going on and what they're going to to do to repair things,” said Ellen Jones, a first-year comparative literature student and resident of South Quad.
Jones was able to retrieve some of her belongings during a 30-minute escorted trip upstairs but was required to grab enough to last them through spring break.
“They told us that they expect that the dorm will be up and running March 16, but they don’t think anything’s going to happen any time sooner than that,” she said.
Jones saw firsthand some of the damage caused by the flood.
“Some of the ceiling tiles had sort of fallen down and broken apart, everything smelled hot and muggy and kind of mildewy,” Jones said. “There were big, industrial-sized fans plugged in everywhere to try and dry things out.”
In total, approximately 250 students had to be moved after the flood, said Wes Hickman, the university’s Chief Communications Officer. They were relocated to other on-campus residence halls or chose to stay with their friends.
“The assessment, cleanup and repairs have begun in South Quad,” Hickman said, “but at this point there is not yet an estimate for the cost of damages.”