By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
Due to a City of Waco main break that caused the basement of the Rogers Engineering and Computer Science building to flood, the elevator will be out of use for around eight weeks.
Baylor Facility Services was notified of a leak near Texana and University House around 3 a.m. on Aug. 12. Water went down the sidewalk toward the parking lot between Rogers and Wiethorn Undergraduate Admissions Center, eventually causing the basement of Rogers to flood with about 5 feet of water.
Dr. Paul Ro, chair and professor of mechanical engineering, said the elevator is “shot.” He said they will have to wait for parts and repairs while figuring out the exact damage that has been done.
“To my knowledge, there are four people who really need the elevator, for people who are mobility-challenged,” Ro said. “We scrambled to switch all their classrooms to the first floor, so they don’t have to use the elevator to get to their classes.”
Ro said the main thing that kept faculty and staff out of the building last week was the lack of a working air conditioning unit.
“The huge motors that drive a fan were shot because they were underwater,” Ro said. “They had to be ordered and replaced, so that took about a week for everything to turn back on so we could use the building again. Fortunately, it came on before school started [on] Sunday night.”
Dr. Jeong Bong Lee, chair and professor of electrical and computer engineering, said during that week, faculty and staff were scrambling to find suitable locations for their offices and classrooms.
“Since there was no air conditioning in the building, all people in the building evacuated to some other buildings,” Lee said. “All of the staff members were able to move to other departments and other offices. Some of the other faculty members had offices in the research building, the BRIC. And many colleagues and staff members here moved … to Cashion and Hankamer buildings. No one was actually staying in the building at all during this one-week period.”
Patrick Hynan, director of technology and facilities at the School of Engineering and Computer Science, said he received a phone call from Baylor Facility Services around 7:15 a.m. on Aug. 12, finding out the basement had flooded.
By the time he arrived on the scene, Hynan said Baylor Facility Services was already starting to work with local partners Target Restoration and Grones Environmental Services to start pumping the water out. He said it took a full day to get the majority of the water out and to start repairing the damage.
“The water leak was actually from a City of Waco water main,” Hynan said. “It was a 12-inch water main that was located over between Texana and University House … It was a foot in diameter, and there was a crack along the water main that was about 6-and-a-half to 7 feet long. There was a lot of water that was coming into the system.”
Hynan said his focus throughout the incident has been making sure the dean, faculty and students are kept up to date.
“It has been through Baylor University facilities and Aramark, who is our facility partner on campus, who have done a lot of the work and deserve a great shoutout,” Hynan said. “They have worked well into the evening and weekend hours to get us where we are today.”
