Water, Water, Everywhere

On Thursday Sept. 22 a storm hit the Tampa area, flooding roads and portions of the University of Tampa campus. Three days later, streets were once again flooded, the effects of an afternoon rainstorm. According to Tampa Bay Online, the rain caused parts of Kennedy Boulevard and Bayshore Boulevard to be closed due to flooding. On campus, many students trudged through high water on their way to class or through residence halls full of water.

Although security reports have not recorded any injuries caused by the flooding, students reported seeing people slip and fall in different areas throughout campus.

Freshman Ashley Singh was working at the Vaughn Center information desk on the night of the first storm. She said she saw people slipping and falling all over Vaughn throughout the evening.

Although many students called the information desk, Singh and her team were unable to provide them with much information since Facilities Management was busy that night and could not keep them updated.

Alireza Bahramirad reported that the tiles in the roof were leaking in the back of his classroom in the John Sykes College of Business.

“I walked in and like three of the roof tiles were on the floor,” he said. Bahramirad’s class had to cram to the front of the classroom for their exam.

Freshman Jon Mangini, who lives in McKay Hall, said, “I was in class and when I came home, the floor was covered in an inch of water. [Facilities] didn’t come for a while and by the time they came we pretty much got most of the water out ourselves.”

Another freshman, Maria Alejandra Ibarra, who also lives in McKay Hall, has two of her friends living in her dorm room, as well as her own roommate.

Carolina Gurdian and Alejandra Cervantes moved into Ibarra’s room after their room was ruined by the water.

“They stayed in my room for three days, she said.

“We were four girls staying in a room where the space is designed for only two. I helped my friends clear up the room for the workers to vacuum the water out. Storage bins, phone chargers and a laptop charger were damaged by the water. All their belongings were placed over their beds, including electronic devices.”

She said that at one point standing in their room the water literally reached their ankles.

“For the three days that the flooding lasted, the water never seemed to stop,” she said.

She continued by saying, “It came from the walls and from the doors. As a consequence, after the rooms were cleaned up the humidity created mold in the walls. Residence authorities allowed two hours of free laundry for students to wash everything that [had] been damaged.”

Director of Facilities Management Dave Ramsey summarized what happened. “On Thursday, Sept. 22, we had four inches of rain in two hours, late afternoon,” he said.

“With rains like this, the city storm drains are overwhelmed and thus the street flooding. Our drains tie into the city’s storm drains. Water did get into several building first floor areas due to an almost unprecedented amount in such a short time.”

The Cass Building, John Sykes College of Business, the eighth floor of the Vaughn Center, the auditorium and stage of the Faulk Theater, and the first floors of Austin Hall, McKay Hall, Smiley Hall and Thomas Parking Garage were all affected by the flooding, according to the Campus Security Office.

There was a water detection alarm that went off in one of the computer labs (security staff was unable to specify which one).

“When we get reports of water entering a building space, we mobilize as many workers as we can (this was after 4:30 p.m on Thursday) to come in to wet vacuum, mop and do whatever necessary to get the water up,” Ramsey wrote in an email message.

“On Sunday, Sept. 25, we had two to three inches of rain in two hours, late afternoon.  Again, our minimal Sunday staff was augmented with off-duty workers to come in and help remove the water,” he said.

In order to prevent this in the future, facilities staff plan to look at additional drainage opportunities in order to steer water away from the buildings, ensure the landscaping is not blocking the drains, correct defective roof drains, and reinforce response time to heavy rains and flooding.

Shivani Kanji can be reached at shivani.kanji@spartans.ut.edu.