News releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
07/27/06

CONTACT: John Harrod, (608) 262-0930, bsmattmi@wisc.edu

STRONG RAINS CAUSE FLOODING DAMAGE IN 30-PLUS CAMPUS BUILDINGS

MADISON - A powerful noon-hour storm that dropped more than three inches of rain in central Madison caused a rash of flooding problems across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. No major safety issues were reported involving either humans or animals. The campus is open for the remainder of day and will be open on Friday.

Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities, said immediately after the downpour that crews were dispatched to 68 sites as of 3 p.m. to deal with water problems across the campus. But the campus' utility infrastructure appeared to have weathered the storm. Power was available in all campus buildings except the Athletics Ticket Office and the UW Field House. Some outages to the campus email network had been restored by 3 p.m.

"The good news is that it appears that all electrical substations and steam and chilled water lines were unaffected by the storm," Fish said. "But we did have roof leaks and flooded basements and there were some transportation problems."

Campus facilities officials had six operators taking calls and reported that lines were jammed with calls reporting some type of water or storm damage.

Faramarz Vakilizadeh, associate director of physical plant, said crews were also inspecting some utility tunnels for damage, though there had been no reports of damage.

The lids for storm sewers popped off in several locations, and water rushed into some buildings, both from rooftops and as water poured over curbs. Flooding also occurred on parts of Willow Creek on the west side of campus.

There were also roadway flooding problems at several sites on and near campus, including on Walnut Street between the Campus Drive overpass and the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Minor flooding occurred on Langdon Street, University Avenue at Charter Street, and on Park Street near the railroad overpass.

Vakilizadeh said one witness reported five feet of water had swamped the Walnut Street site. And at least of foot of water was reported on Langdon Street near the Memorial Union.

Additionally, parts of Library Mall flooded during the first, lengthy downpour which registered more than 3.5 inches in a rain gauge near Hiram Smith Hall near Babcock and Observatory drives.

UW Police warned that flooding hit some parking ramps especially hard, submerging vehicles in some plases. The areas with severe problems included 21 North Park Street; Nielsen Pond near the School of Pharmacy; the Regent Street System Office (Lot 29); the UW Police Station (Lot 16); the second floor of Vilas Hall; Lot 57 at the Natatorium; the sewage station at 630 W. Mifflin Street; and three lakeshore residence hall buildings.

The hardest-hit academic buildings were Computer Sciences, 1210 W. Dayton Street; the Veterinary Medicine Building, 2015 Linden Drive; and the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street. All three buildings faced a combination of ground and roof flooding, as well as a broken water pipe in Veterinary Medicine and broken storm water pipes in Computer Sciences.

"It was basically raining inside the building for a while, from floor to floor to floor," said Roger Vogts, building manager for the Memorial Union. "We have flat roofs in some places and the roof drains just couldn't keep up."

The Veterinary Medicine building had about 6 inches of water in the basement, partly because of a broken water pipe, and also had roof flooding and significant flooding in the loading dock area. Facilities supervisor Karen Mier said the problems did not interfere with animal safety or patient care.

At the Animal Science Building, officials considerede evacuating research animals from the basement due to flooding, but the building's sub-basement bore the brunt of the incoming water, according to department administrator Sheila Pink.

Student Orientation, Advising and Registration (SOAR) students were instructed how to register from home on Thursday and services were not interrupted.
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