By Arielle Follett
Classes were cancelled on the third and fourth floor of the B-building after about half an inch of flood water was brought to the college’s attention during a heavy rain storm on Sept. 5.
The flood was caused by work being done to the roof to replace some mechanical problems with draining in the B-building. A drain that had been installed the day before broke, allowing the water to fall into the ceiling instead of the drain, causing a two-inch round hole in the ceiling tile. The break occurred in the north-west section of the fourth floor, near the Language Institute.
“It was a very localized issue,” said Udo Friesen, manager of facility operations and maintenance services.
Contractors were on scene when the flood happened and handled it very quickly, fixing the hole within 15 minutes and vacuuming up the water on the ground.
“The contractors were very helpful and didn’t complain at all about having to clean up. They got right on the issue as soon as it happened and prevented the issue from being a lot worse than it could have been,” said Friesen.
Very little damage was caused by the event. Ten small offices were affected by the flood, with a small corner storage closet getting the worst of it. There are closets directly above each other from the fourth floor down to the second. Those closets on the fourth and third floor both had a small hole in the ground which caused water to fall down to the second floor closet.
Some books and other small-value items were also damaged.
“There definitely wasn’t enough damage to cause any major concern or grief,” said Friesen. “When water is falling from the ceiling it looks severe but it isn’t actually so bad as long as it is properly and quickly handled, which it was in this case.”
The college is still handling damage claims from the flooding.