An Alert Carolina message notified students to the flooding and warned that there would be water outages and traffic delays throughout the day as repairs were made.
“When I first heard that the flood had happened, I freaked out,” said sophomore Ellie Wu. “I live on the first floor and I was worried that my stuff would be ruined.”
She said she initially thought of the November 2012 flooding in Granville Towers and was afraid that she and other residents would be displaced because of the damage.
“The basketball court is covered with furniture that they’re trying to clean out,” said Wu.
But effects on students were limited to a short loss of water from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday along with the closing of the main building entrance and the loss of laundry services.
Associate Director of Housing and Residential Education Rick Bradley said it is too early to tell for sure how much damage was caused, but that $200,000 was his first estimate.
Four of the six housing employees whose offices are located in Avery have been displaced for what is estimated to be three or four weeks. Bradley said they were filled with mud, debris and more than two feet of water.
“I’d say the flooding caused quite a bit of damage,” he said.
