After Hume Hall flooding, maintenance continues

A week after the flooding in Hume Hall, residents have adjusted to constant maintenance workers and renovations.

After a broken sprinkler flooded the east wing of the residence hall Sept. 28, students were evacuated, and 32 rooms were damaged. A week after the incident, students still face the loss of personal property, and UF officials are replacing carpet and ceiling tiles.

Sharon Blansett, the assistant to the associate vice president for Student Affairs, wrote in an email that housing staff has worked to begin repairs, but there is no determined cost for maintenance.

“Staff is continuing to log costs related to damage to Hume Hall and recovery from the flood,” she said.

So far, the broken sprinkler head has been fixed, the fire protection system has been reset, standing water in the halls and rooms has been vacuumed out, damaged ceiling tiles have been exchanged, five of 19 rooms have had carpets replaced and dehumidifiers have been put in place to help dry affected areas, she said.

“The most damage occurred in the student room where the sprinkler head was broken, rooms and public areas adjacent to this room and the rooms below these rooms,” Blansett said.

Blansett added that UF is not liable for damaged property of students because of the agreement in their terms and conditions, which students sign to live on campus.

Students are encouraged to purchase renters insurance, and UF is helping affected students by providing insurance claim forms, she said.

Austin Gordon, a third-floor resident of Hume Hall, said maintenance has been nonstop since the flooding.

“The water started on the second floor and trickled down to the first and ground floor,” the 18-year-old UF biology freshman said.

He said he was not affected as much as his peers, one of whom lost an entire class’ worth of notes.

“He was pissed,” Gordon said. “The notes are ruined and illegible.”

He said on the night of the flooding, students were kept up late after being evacuated. Because of this, the Dean of Students Office got involved and offered the residents a note to miss class the following day.

Fourth-floor resident Brandon Ptak, 19, said adjusting to the constant presence of maintenance workers hasn’t been hard.

Since the incident, some of the maintenance and service crew members have been offering to take students’ clothes home to wash, he said.

“It’s nice to see that the building is banding together,” the UF biochemistry sophomore said.