Contact:
Will SansomPhone: (210) 567-2579
E-mail:
Sansom@uthscsa.edu “Fantastic effort,” said Kenneth Kalkwarf, D.D.S., M.S., dean of the Dental School. “A heck of a job,” said Michael Charlton, Ph.D., assistant vice president for risk management and safety. “Those who were here deserve a lot of credit,” said William Dodge, D.D.S., vice dean of the Dental School. “It’s not bad to have this kind of catastrophe and be back up and running in 72 hours,” said Darrell Maatsch, assistant vice president for campus operations and facilities.
What shines through, in the aftermath of what may become known in the Dental School as the Great Flood of 2006, is the incredibly heroic response of several Health Science Center departments. They include facilities management, particularly custodial services, electricians and the preventive maintenance shop; telecommunications and networking; environmental health and safety; and university police. Although these professionals do their job without much fanfare or acclaim, when the U corridor of the Dental School building with its many labs and offices was in jeopardy, they sacrificed their own schedules and physical comfort to make sure all activities could return to normal as soon as possible.
“In this crisis everyone did their job well, and I’m proud of what they have accomplished,” said James D. Kazen, executive vice president for administration.
The incident occurred shortly after midnight Friday, May 5, when a drain pipe coupling came loose in a utility chase on the U corridor, pouring thousands of gallons of water on telecommunications equipment directly beneath it. The water rapidly made its way around the fourth-floor U corridor and gushed at the pipe to the U corridor areas on lower floors.
Twenty-five rooms on the fourth floor, including one lecture hall and five labs, sustained primarily carpet damage, according to an assessment by environmental health and safety. Thirteen rooms on the third floor, including 11 labs, were found to have wet ceiling tiles and water on the floors. On the second floor, 12 rooms, all labs, sustained similar damage that included wet computers, centrifuges and other equipment. On the ground level, 12 rooms, including 10 labs, were found to have water.
Hours after the flooding, the Health Science Center asked company field service engineers to assess the damage to millions of dollars of equipment in its Core Optical Imaging Facility, which is by the second-floor U corridor. The Core Optical Imaging Facility is an important institutional core research facility at the Health Science Center. “It’s going to be at least a week before representatives get here from all the companies,” said Victoria Frohlich, Ph.D., director of institutional core research facilities. “Our biggest concern is corrosion and other long-term effects to our high-quality imaging instruments. Some microscopes still have water in them. I applaud the individuals on site who took action. Having the first line come in as quickly as they did really made a difference. It could have been a lot worse.”
Thirty to 40 housekeepers from custodial services, who were about to go home from their evening shift that ends at 12:30 a.m., stayed to work through the morning hours of Friday and into that afternoon. Some returned after an hour break and worked until Saturday. Many also worked Sunday. “The next time you see your housekeeping professionals, give them a round of applause,” said Carl Wellington, environmental health and safety. “We had a significant flood event, and they worked all weekend long.”
After custodians mopped and squeegeed water for hours, some floors were dry enough to place humidifiers and blowers. Labs and offices were by necessity kept open to allow drying to occur. University police increased patrols that ensured all affected areas were secure during the flood remediation. “The police had people walking the corridors non-stop,” said Raymond Martin, facilities management. Carpets were cleaned twice and treated to prevent mold growth. Stained carpets will be replaced.
“Facilities management has done such a good job that you might have a difficult time telling what has happened,” Dr. Charlton said Monday morning to 200 faculty and staff assembled at a meeting to hear the latest on the situation.
Robert Ports, director of telecommunications and networking, said the water first damaged a switch on the fourth floor. Another problem occurred on the second floor, where the water inundated major network backbone equipment that serves 4,000 to 5,000 desktop computers and servers. Telecommunications and networking heroically worked through the weekend drying out the equipment with hair dryers, sometimes shaking out water. The second-floor backbone equipment is valued at $80,000, Ports said.
At the Monday meeting, he said the equipment is back up and running. In addition, four employees working on the fourth-floor wiring completed that project Monday and restored service to more computer users. Ports cautioned that water exposure can cause long-term problems to wiring and electronics. He asked those who experience difficulty to call the T&N helpdesk at 567-2061.
Dr. Dodge said at the meeting that no Dental School academic work or patient care will be affected. First-, second- and third-year dental students were given a day off Friday, but were back in classes Monday. All classes taking place this week in the U corridors have been relocated to other spaces. Dr. Charlton asked departments, if they had not already done so, to contact manufacturer representatives about damaged equipment, especially items valued at more than $50,000.
Most furniture had been moved back into offices and labs by Monday. Most dehumidifiers and blowers were removed by Tuesday. As of Tuesday afternoon, the work of evaluating damage to labs and offices continues.
Two 4-inch-wide drain pipes on the roof of the building connect to a single 6-inch-wide pipe that carries the water downward through the building and out at ground level. The force of the water caused a gasket to fail at an elbow where the water is directed downward. In the wee hours Friday, plumbers from facilities management placed a new gasket and reattached the coupling, and as a preventive measure, installed a clamp on the pipe to ensure the problem can’t recur.
Robert Ross, executive housekeeper in custodial services, said his employees “worked hard and consistently. It’s a great group of people.” Maatsch added: “Remember the times when you’ve had a lot of water to clean up. It’s hard work. Now think about doing it for 30 hours straight. That’s what happened here.”
Callers to (210) 567-SNOW can keep up with situations at any Health Science Center campus. Up-to-date information also is available at Campus Status on the Health Science Center home page,
www.uthscsa.edu.
