A flood was reported in the Kennedy Apartments at roughly 1 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3, when a Kennedy resident informed the resident assistant on duty of water coming through the ceiling.
The flood was confined to the west side of the building on the second, third and fourth floors.
"There weren't any damages [to property] in the apartments. There was just water inside the apartments," said Nicole Bernabe, the graduate assistant in Kennedy.
The flood was reported by Adam Gallion, a junior. Gallion said after seeing the water he contacted the R.A. on duty to report that it was in the hallway.
"I was coming out of the elevator and there was water coming out of the ceiling," Gallion said.
The flood occurred because of water which backed up in the plumbing, and caused a pipe to break. The R.A. on duty called security, which immediately contacted custodial. Custodial was able to fix the broken pipe quickly and there was minimal damage to the apartments.
The estimated time from when the flood was reported to when custodial fixed the pipe was approximately 30 minutes.
"The only damage was right above the elevator, there was one ceiling tile that had water damage," Bernabe said.
Esther Gaines, the area coordinator, said the response time was a contributing factor to the little damage from the flood. All damages were repaired.
"I think we're lucky with this because it was reported to custodial that quickly," Gaines said. "We didn't really suffer any damage to the property, luckily, but there was some cleaning."
The cost of the flood was that of a single ceiling tile, about $20, plus a $25 per hour cleaning fee. However, the total cost of the flood will not be known until the Housing Department receives a bill from Plant Services for the cleaning. Plant Services did not respond to questions.
Broken pipes and flooding are fairly usual occurrences in all of the buildings on campus, Bernabe said. "It happens in every building at some point or another."
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!