Students crowded outside the Grewcock Student Union at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon after a pipe broke in the college bookstore.
“I got a call about an alarm going off,” Director of Student Activities Amanda Bigney said. “A pipe broke in the ceiling and water started going down into the bookstore.”
Senior Martha Ekdahl was working in the bookstore when the flooding started.
“Black water started gushing out of the break room in the back,” Ekdahl said. “We closed the door and started putting cardboard boxes down and a few blankets to stop the water.”
Fortunately, only some merchandise was damaged. Cindy Willing, College Bookstore director, tried to save merchandise in the break room when water came pouring down from the ceiling.
“I was trying to get as much merchandise off the shelf as I could before it got wet,” Willing said. “The water was coming down so fast. It looked like a pond caved in.”
Willing, who got completely soaked, said the textbooks are safe.
“It could have been the textbooks, and we’re thankful that it wasn’t,” Willing said.
Ekdahl said the leak could have been much worse.
“A few things got wet,” Ekdahl said. “The big thing is the textbooks are fine. Everything is pretty much up from the floor.”
The flooding extended out of the bookstore and into the hallway, blocking off the conference room, Saga Inc. office, and Collegian office behind A.J.’s Café. After about half an hour, students returned to the union but were prevented from accessing the formal lounge, bookstore, and offices behind A.J.’s.
Director of Security Bill Whorley said the administration reacted quickly to turn off the fire alarm and get the water cleaned up so the students could return to the union.
“Simplex was called and they called the fire department, but we called them off as soon as we knew what it was,” Whorley said. “We’ve got guys on it, and we’re getting it cleaned up.”
Bigney helped maintenance mop up the water in the bookstore while bookstore employees and maintenance employees vacuumed and moved merchandise and furniture back to their original positions.
Some water flooded into Saga, but not near food production, Bigney said. Maintenance cleaned up the water in the bookstore and the hallways within two hours.
“We’ve got certified maintenance getting it cleaned up,” Bigney said. “We’ve had it happen so many times this year, so we’re on it.”
