The heavy rains that swept across the Northeast the past two weeks also took their toll on the Medford campus, causing water damage in two buildings.
Students arrived at Aidekman Arts Center Sunday, Oct. 9 to find the building flooded. Water came into both the music library and the musical instrument storage rooms.
A week later, on Sunday, Oct. 16, Braker Hall also flooded.
The Aidekman flood occurred between 5 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and noon on Sunday, according to Librarian Michael Rogan, who was notified of the flood by campus security on that Sunday afternoon. At one point, he said, the music library was drenched with three inches of water.
"Paper based materials in storage in the library were damaged," Rogan said. The water did not reach any shelves, though, he said.
The music library, located in the basement of Aidekman, bore the brunt of the flooding, Library Assistant Abigail Al-Doory said. The library was closed that Sunday and did not re-open until this Tuesday.
Some of the library's electrical equipment was damaged, including a stereo, Al-Doory said. The computers that were on the floor were not damaged. They were dried out by the Library Information Technology Support.
"We didn't lose any data but we didn't have computers for several days," Rogan said.
Musical instruments were also hit by the flood.
"Some of the African drums did get wet," Al-Doory said. "But they were pulled out OK."
Cellos had to be moved from the basement, but some did get wet. Music Department Chair Janet Schmalfeldt received messages from two students on Tuesday about the possible damage of one instrument and an instrument case.
"My case just got a little wet on the bottom," sophomore Andrea Markell said.
Junior Bryan Boyce's cello, though, was temporarily damaged by the flooding in the basement. "The moisture from all the water expanded the wood in my cello and I was unable to tune it for five days," he said. He did not immediately report the specifics of the problem to any faculty.
Freshman Whitney Pegden said her cello was damaged but does not plan to get it repaired until she hears if the University will reimburse her. No decision has yet been made on if and how students will be compensated if items are permanently damaged.
The upper floors of Aidekman were not hit as hard as the music library. A Chamber Singers practice was scheduled in Aidekman for Sunday afternoon was cancelled but classes were held in the building on Monday.
Portable pumps were brought in by the OneSource custodial staff to divert water into the sinks and toilets. Both Rogan and Schmalfeldt said they were impressed by and grateful for the job done by OneSource.
Fans were also put in to dry the carpet and prevent mold from developing in the music library, Rogan said. They were still there Tuesday morning.
"You can still smell the stench," Al-Doory said last Wednesday.
The flooding of Aidekman was caused by a failure in the building's sump pump - a device used to redirect water that is collecting below the floor of a basement before it overflows into the basement. "When the sump pump failed the groundwater rose," Rogan said.
Director of Construction Management Mitch Bodnarchuk said flooding is a recurring problem in Aidekman. "With all the rain we had, this was a natural rising of the water table beneath the building," he said.
The renovation of Cohen Auditorium and the construction of the new music building will give workers a chance to install a better drainage system for Aidekman, Bodnarchuk said. "We expect to solve this problem permanently," he said.
Rogan, who is on the committee overseeing the construction of the new music building, said that this will be a "huge job." To put in a drainage system, he said, construction workers will "have to rip [the building] down to the dirt."
According to Academic Computing Lab Manager Jeff Weiner, the Braker flood occurred when water leaked in through the ceiling. He does not believe any computers were damaged.
"The computers are under the desks and are up off the floor in computer caddies," he said. "To be on the safe side, we will not turn on those computers until the area around them has a chance to dry."
