Hogate Hall experienced flooding during the last week of January due to freezing pipes and water leaks prompting the university to give students the opportunity to temporarily relocate.
Warren Whitesell, associate vice president for facilities management, confirmed that flooding has occurred in Hogate. Whitesell said, “We have recently experienced water issues within Hogate in part due to frozen pipes under open windows and to a water leak above the 312 room stack which affected space around and below 312.”
According to Whitesell, the CLCD staff offered some students who experienced flooding issues the opportunity to be temporarily relocated to a different dorm room. Current first-year and Hogate 2 resident Brooke Schrombeck was given this choice but said she did not experience the flooding in her dorm room to the same extent as other people she knew.
Schrombeck said she first noticed the leaking in her room during the first week of the second semester and only during that time. After a heavy rainstorm, Schrombeck said “The edge of my bed was soaked in water” and water had dripped down the side of her wall. After emailing Facilities Management about the leak, she said they promptly arrived at her room that same day to assess the situation and temporarily seal the walls.
While she had not experienced leaking issues until January, Schrombeck said she knew other students who had leaking issues months prior–– some since October.
Another first-year student and Hogate resident, Cedrick Chandler, also experienced some of the effects of the flooding in his room. Chandler first noticed the leaking upon his arrival back on campus after winter break. “I looked under my bed and there was this puddle of water there,” said Chandler. Similar to Schrombeck, Chandler only had flooding issues during the first week of the second semester. Because of the possibility of future water leaks, Chandler started moving certain belongings off of his dorm room floor. Chandler said, “They [staff] advise us to make sure that we don’t put anything valuable on the ground because they are not responsible for any damaged items. So I guess that does scare me.”
In order to prevent any further damage to the pipes, Whitesell urges students to keep their windows closed when temperatures are low. Whitesell said the leak above 312 will require further investigation and until such an investigation can be completed, “we’ve temporarily sealed the walls and relocated the students from the space.”