Andrew Catalano ’05 awoke on Sunday to find the winter weather had moved into his basement. The bottom of his Church Street house was flooded and there was no heat or water pressure.
Several senior houses and administrative offices have recently reported burst pipes and insufficient insulation. The Administration is attempting to both correct these problems as well as publicize ways of preventing such damage.
Madeleine Van Engel ’05 and her housemates have also experienced some of the frustrations of living in a wood frame house in winter. Van Engel said they noted what they thought was a water shortage and were told that their pipes had frozen. Their problems continued when the newly restored water pressure began to leak into their hallway, filling two large buckets.
“The problem is fixed, although there is still a large hole in our ceiling,” Van Engel said. The hole was later repaired.
While many people were snowed in, Public Safety spend most of the weekend responding to calls from students reporting problems similar to those Catalano and Engel experienced.
According to Catalano, Van Engel said that Public Safety arrived quickly and that Student Life Facilities amended the damage within hours. Catalano was surprised by how quickly Student Life Facilities responded to and corrected the problem.
“Seeing that it was a Sunday and the morning after a big snow storm, we didn’t expect a prompt response, but within half an hour a couple of friendly guys with Boston accents were telling us that they would have the situation fixed as soon as they could,” Catalano said.
“Physical Plant was extremely helpful, friendly, and personable,” Van Engel said. “The people who came answered all of our questions and even gave us specific details about what had happened and what they were doing to remedy the situation.”
Director of Pubic Safety MaryAnn Wiggin said that such accidents are happening everywhere, not just on campus. But Jeff Sweet, Manager of Student Life Facilities and a lifelong resident of Middletown, said the frigid temperatures of late are unusual for this part of Connecticut.
“We can deal with a day or so of this but once we move into two or three days of sub-zero weather, we start to get problems,” Sweet said. “And now, we’re into our fifth day.”
In a campus-wide email sent Monday, Manny Cunard, Director of Auxiliary Operations and Campus Services, outlined several steps students can take to minimize the likelihood of their pipes breaking. Among these measures were keeping doors and windows closed at all times, letting faucets drip at night, and setting thermostats to at least sixty-five degrees.
Sweet reiterated that students should call Physical Plant’s work order department at extension x3400 in the event of breakage, and that if anything happens on the weekend or in Student Life’s off-hours, Public Safety will respond.
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