Flooded suites in University Hall are mostly restored after a pipe burst last Thursday left at least one dorm with two inches of water and forced hundreds of residents to briefly evacuate the building.
The pipe burst occurred around 9 a.m. in a third-floor suite, quickly flooding the floor’s hallway, the suite below it and the Dunkin’ located on the ground floor of the residence hall. A fire alarm subsequently sounded, ordering the building’s roughly 600 residents to evacuate for under an hour.
Atticus Smith, a CAS junior and resident of the flooded suite, said building administrators told him in an email that a pipe exploded in the wall beside his room’s closet, also setting off the sprinkler. He said that maintenance staff immediately installed dehumidifiers and cleaned the floors.
“The maintenance workers are way understaffed,” Smith said in an interview. “I’m worried that they just don’t have enough time and resources provided by the school to be able to properly clean things up.”
NYU offered Smith and his suitemates a six-day accommodation at Greenwich Hall, from the night of the flood until Wednesday, when they received notice that their temporary housing placement is no longer in effect. Smith said the water residue remained on the suite’s floor over the weekend after the initial cleaning. Despite receiving a chemical clean on Monday, multiple residents noted the lingering smell of mildew and expressed concerns about mold.
Affected students were advised in an email to contact residence hall director Morgan Vinson-Watson for help. They were also offered compensation for dry cleaning and damaged personal belongings that they could provide receipts for. Smith estimated that the damage in his suite, which included many of his clothing items and large floor rugs, amounted to around $800 in losses.
“They’ve been very cold, and it has not been very helpful in figuring out how exactly I should go about getting reimbursements,” Smith said. “It’s been all over email, which has been kind of frustrating to deal with.”
An NYU spokesperson did not respond to WSN’s request for comment.
Contact Eva Mundo and Kaitlyn Sze Tu at [email protected].