Last Saturday morning just after midnight, flooding in Dibble due to a damaged sprinkler forced students to evacuate for the night. The flooding was caused by two students throwing a ball, which knocked a sprinkler head off, according to Dibble 2nd Student Advisor Thomas Marsho ’17.
Marsho said that a couple of people throwing a ball knocked over a sprinkler head on the third floor of Dibble, causing water to rush down the stairs and the walls, down to the basement, first and second floors at a rate of six to ten gallons per second.
“I’m assuming the people responsible will take accountability for that,” Marsho said. They have stepped forward at this time and will presumably be responsible for a hefty fine that otherwise would have been dispersed to the entire building.
Security and Facilities Management were promptly called at the time of the flood. Students were evacuated and then briefly allowed back in to retrieve belongings. They then were displaced until 9 a.m. the next morning. Since then, the building has been completely habitable.
FM has been working this week making repairs to the building, replacing ceiling tiles and carpeting. Commercial dehumidifiers have also been set up to help air out the smell from the water damage.
Mold tests have already started and the results of each test will be released back to the students, according to Dean of Students Sarah Moschenross.
FM and Risk Management are collecting information about the extent of damages for insurance purposes. Students are being encouraged to make a list of any damaged or lost belongings and give it to Interim Director of Orientation Annie Butler.
“We’re waiting to see if the damages reach the deductible of the insurance plan that we have,” Moschenross said. “There will be some kind of compensation either from our insurance or from restitution in some way or another. We appreciate [students’] resilience and we’re here to help them recover their lost damages and help support them if they were inconvenienced in any way.”
Marsho is pleased with how his residents handled the situation.
“There’s just a lot of water, a lot of damage,” he said. “It’s messy, but everybody handled it really well, so I’m glad for that.
