Three inches of water flowed into the basements of Lewis Library, Fine Hall, McDonnell Hall and Jadwin Hall, covering carpets and soaking ceiling tiles, University spokeswoman Emily Aronson said Tuesday night. Facilities staff closed off areas in the basements of all four buildings, which are connected to each other, and at least two classes were relocated and one was cancelled.
The flooding began when a connector pipe broke at around 3:40 a.m. Tuesday, setting off a fire alarm. Public Safety responded and notified staff from Facilities and Environmental Health and Safety. It is unclear what caused the failure of the connector pipe, an 8-inch sprinkler coupling line, Aronson said. Facilities staff shut off the water flow shortly after the break.
Crews were on site Tuesday with industrial vacuum cleaners and other equipment cleaning up the water, though it is unclear when the areas will reopen. “We’re still assessing the extent of the damages,” Aronson said.
The A-level of Lewis Library was flooded, but the rest of the library continues to remain open. Patrons requesting materials from the A-level or from the library in Fine Hall can ask library staff to retrieve those documents from closed-off areas.
The geoscience and map library collection on the B-floor of Fine Hall was also flooded, and some books and maps got wet. The map collection “is one of the largest cartographic collections at an academic institution” and contains 300,000 maps and charts, according to the library’s website.
Books and other library materials that were damaged were moved to a refrigerated truck overnight to ensure the safety of the materials.
Aronson said the flooding could have been a lot worse. “The good news is the damage is fairly localized. It’s not the entire library that was damaged,” she explained. The basement remains closed so cleanup crews can work more quickly, she added.
Classrooms A01 and A02 in McDonnell Hall were also flooded, as was the building’s Brush Gallery. Jadwin was spared the brunt of the water, with only one research lab experiencing minimal flooding.
PHY 115: Future Physics, which is usually held in McDonnell A01, was relocated to Lewis 120. Students said that the relocation was not a problem.
“Except for perhaps a few more late students than usual, the class functioned in its normal manner,” Lisa Femia ’14 said in an e-mail. “I actually liked Lewis 120 much more than our usual room, so I’m not complaining.” Femia noted that the course’s instructor, physics professor Paul Steinhardt, e-mailed the class about the relocation around 9 a.m.
“None of the material was disrupted,” Justin Perez ’14 said in an e-mail. “It wasn’t an inconvenience at all ... Lewis is like a 20-second walk or so from McDonnell.”
PHY 103: General Physics I was cancelled on Tuesday, physics professor James Olsen said in an e-mail to the course’s students at 8:37 a.m. The lecture is usually held in McDonnell A02.
Crews have been “working tirelessly since early morning to assess damage, to clean up areas and to remove wet carpeting and ceiling tiles,” Aronson said.
University employees, along with staff from the company Servpro, spent Tuesday removing wet or damaged ceiling tiles and drywall. Crews vacuumed about 90 percent of the water off the carpeting, and Aronson said that the University hopes the rest of the water evaporated overnight. Cleanup crews will also run a dehumidifier and bring in floor fans to help dry the carpet, which will need to be partially replaced if the floor does not dry.
The cost of the damage is not yet clear, Aronson said.
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