Last Thursday afternoon, September 8, Nugent Hall was evacuated for several hours due to flooding—forcing some students out of their rooms overnight and in some cases beyond. The incident was caused when a water valve was accidentally opened and resulted in damage to parts of the building and some student belongings as well as a temporary network outage, including phones, to much of freshman hill.
The incident began when a female student attempted to work on the toilet in her room. According to Mark Frost, director of the Physical Plant, a portion of the toilet that controls water release came loose and “large volumes of water” began discharging.
Frost said that FIXX responded immediately when they heard of the incident, but that it did take a little while before the emergency shutoff valve was used. He said that he did not have an exact figure but estimated that about 2,000 gallons of water were discharged over the situation’s entirety; over 1,000 gallons had been extracted from the building.
According to Frost, power was initially cut out of concern to Nugent, Davison, and Sharp Halls. When it was determined to be safe, power was turned back on to Sharp and Davison, but a portable generator was used to power Nugent—the transformer for the building was extensively damaged due to the water.
As a result of cutting power to Nugent, much of Freshman Hill temporarily lost network connectivity—including room telephones. The networking equipment stored in Nugent, however, was not damaged and was brought back up later that evening.
Frost said that Physical Plant staff pulled the fire alarm to evacuate Nugent. The Institute also called in outside firms to help extract the water that had spread to approximately two-thirds of the first floor and a half of the second floor. Frost added that students were allowed back into their rooms fairly quickly for a situation that involved water intrusion: “We responded very well.”
According to Pete Snyder, director of Residence Life, most Nugent residents were allowed back in later that night, but around 40 were offered rooms at the Best Western by Residence Life. Many of those residents were allowed back in their room by noon the following day, though there were some exceptions.
Zane Van Dusen ’07 was not back in his room until Monday, having stayed at the hotel over the weekend since his room was very close to the source of the leak. He said that when his roommate grabbed some of their belongings from their room, there was almost an inch of water on their floor and it was pouring out of the exterior walls. There is a visible stain on the outside of part of the building.
Van Dusen said that between him and his roommate, they probably had several hundred dollars worth of property damage. He added that among his property that was damaged were his printer, record player, and several books and records.
Andrew Eckel ’06 said he was working at his desk when he first heard the sound of the water. He described that it sounded similar to the shower running, and that it was the type of sound you ignore for a while; he began to get concerned, however, when the sound had been going for about a minute.
Eckel asked his roommate Raj Pandya ’06 what he thought it was, and soon they began to walk through the building to find the source of the noise. Eckel said that when they went upstairs, there was “already a ton of water.” He then called Public Safety who said they were already aware of the situation.
As the in-house president of Ground Zero, which calls the Nugent basement home, he went to the basement with his roommate and began covering their equipment with large plastic bags—a move that probably saved their electronics. Not much water had gotten down there yet, nor to his first floor room, but he and Pandya grabbed some of their belongings not knowing when the situation would be alleviated.
Eckel said the fire alarm began going off around 10-15 minutes after the incident began and that by that point some water was beginning to reach the first floor. He described the ceiling at Ground Zero’s basement location as rather porous and said it was almost as if it was raining down there. His own room, however, did not see that much damage.
Eckel pointed out that the Ground Zero Open Mic Night scheduled for last Saturday did go on and was a success. They held the event outside of the Commons that night, but it should be held in its regular location next time.
The building is currently running off of a temporary transformer and the Institute is looking to get a new permanent transformer for the building soon. Parts of the building still have several fans and dehumidifiers running. Frost said that he did not have a concrete damage estimate yet, but that it would likely be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Snyder stated that no final decisions have been made on how to pay for damages, but students who lost belongings should check with their parents or to see if they have property insurance. He added that they can also fill out a claim form from Residence Life or pick up a swipe card to use on the laundry machines if any of their clothes need to be washed or dried as a result of the flood.
