SectionsHallway ball game causes flood, water damage on New Hall fifth floor
Joe Cover
Issue date: 2/7/01 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Student Joe Buckingham was talking on the phone when he heard a noise outside his fifth floor room. He looked out into the hall and saw water shooting from a broken sprinkler head and peeling the paint off the wall across from the head.
Buckingham and his roommate Curtis Donnelson began putting their stuff from the floor onto chairs. They shoved towels under their door in an attempt to stop the water from penetrating their room.
Because of their quick thinking, the only thing they have to deal with now is trying to get the smell of water that has been in pipes for a year out of their room.
"It stinks up there," said Joe Moore, another fifth floor resident, who said you can see where the paint has been sprayed off the wall.
Students were evacuated from New Hall as water poured from a fire sprinkler on the fifth floor after the sprinkler was struck by a football shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday evening.
The flood caused water damage from the fifth floor to the basement. Items sitting on the floor in students' rooms were soaked and the hall carpets suffered damage.
"Anything on the floor, which was mainly clothes, was soaked," said Sean Trumbly, hall director for New Hall.
Hall directors and residence assistants from every dormitory on campus responded to help clean the water. The water was pushed into elevator shafts where pumps are installed for the purpose of water removal.
Gary Stewart, the head of housing, said this has happened before, and this is the reason there is a no "hall ball" policy.
"We do have a responsible party. That person came forth," said Stewart. The responsible party will be expected to make monetary compensation for any damage.
A sprinkler on the same floor was broken last year when struck by a soccer ball. Reimbursement in that situation was around $7000.
The SMS bookstore is replacing wet books, and vending has removed the coin boxes from the laundromat in New Hall to help students get their lives back in order.
Buckingham and his roommate Curtis Donnelson began putting their stuff from the floor onto chairs. They shoved towels under their door in an attempt to stop the water from penetrating their room.
Because of their quick thinking, the only thing they have to deal with now is trying to get the smell of water that has been in pipes for a year out of their room.
"It stinks up there," said Joe Moore, another fifth floor resident, who said you can see where the paint has been sprayed off the wall.
Students were evacuated from New Hall as water poured from a fire sprinkler on the fifth floor after the sprinkler was struck by a football shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday evening.
The flood caused water damage from the fifth floor to the basement. Items sitting on the floor in students' rooms were soaked and the hall carpets suffered damage.
"Anything on the floor, which was mainly clothes, was soaked," said Sean Trumbly, hall director for New Hall.
Hall directors and residence assistants from every dormitory on campus responded to help clean the water. The water was pushed into elevator shafts where pumps are installed for the purpose of water removal.
Gary Stewart, the head of housing, said this has happened before, and this is the reason there is a no "hall ball" policy.
"We do have a responsible party. That person came forth," said Stewart. The responsible party will be expected to make monetary compensation for any damage.
A sprinkler on the same floor was broken last year when struck by a soccer ball. Reimbursement in that situation was around $7000.
The SMS bookstore is replacing wet books, and vending has removed the coin boxes from the laundromat in New Hall to help students get their lives back in order.