One day after a flood ripped through Upham Hall Wednesday night due to a water pipe bursting, all classes are being held as scheduled in the building.
However, two general access computer labs are not accessible as of Thursday morning due to the floods.
Greg Swanson, the director of facilities and planning management, said the clean up process has gone well.
“All the water has been recovered and disposed,” Swanson said Thursday morning. “Staff is in there working on areas where there is lighting that have ceiling water damage around it to make sure it’s safe.”
In an e-mail sent to all students by UW-Whitwater spokesperson Sara Kuhl at 8:08 a.m., the east entrance to Upham Hall was closed off Thursday, but then just under two hours later at 9:57 a.m., Kuhl said all entrances are now accessible.
No other information was given to students.
Swanson said the university received a call at 5:15 p.m. when a 2.5 inch water main broke in the main lobby on the first floor.
One day later, Swanson is simply looking toward getting Upham Hall cleaned up.
“At this point we are just focused on getting response teams in there from our staff to do cleanup and get the water line repaired and the building system back on line so they could conduct class,” Swanson said.
That wasn’t possible Wednesday night, as water went into classrooms where there were computers, went into elevators and part of the first floor ceiling was damaged.
And according to senior Amy Chaffee, who was present during the flood, said many of the offices on the first floor had a few inches of water in them Wednesday night.
Swanson said he won’t know exact damages until the insurance adjuster comes in and assesses the damages.
Swanson also said the fire alarm system has been restored and heating, ventilation and elevators have all returned to service.
The only other flood events on campus has been due to rain. Heide Hall had minor flooding last summer and the University Center did as well.
Upham Hall, which is on the east side of campus, is home to the science department.
