By Nate West
News Editor
Last Sunday, Sept. 1, a heavy downpour led to the flooding of the lower part of the parking lot behind Shay and Loughlen Halls.
According to Phil Winger, associate vice president for facilities, that parking lot is not capable of draining water from a storm that large.
“The very hard rain exceeded the capacity of the system,” Winger said. “We are reviewing the system to determine the projected frequency of similar events. They have been very rare in the past.”
High water levels flooded the bottom part of the parking lot, submerging some vehicles about halfway up their wheels.
Vito Czyz, director of Safety and Security, said the lot in front of Shay and Loughlen Halls, as well as the upper part next to the tennis courts, are safe from flooding.
He added he has never seen a rainstorm like that one since he arrived here in 2010.
“We have not experienced any similar issues in any other lot on campus since I have been here,” he said. “Therefore, any other student parking lot should be fine.”
The storm did not damage any campus buildings, according to Winger.
Junior theology major Christian Quetell doesn’t usually park in the Shay-Lo lot, but was parked there during the rain because he couldn’t find a spot on the other side of the building, he said.
“I had my car there because I was in La Verna,” Quetell said.
Quetell said he went to check the windows on his car when he saw the flooding.
“When I saw (the flooding) I thought ‘It’s probably only going to get worse,’” he said. “I decided to go back to my room. The parking lot next to Francis was fine.”
Quetell said he would have like to receive an email warning him about the flooding of the lot, but understands secuirty concerns may have been elsewhere.
“It would have been nice to know if maintenece was worried about the lot flooding and gotten an email saying ‘Hey, the lot might flood. If you’re parked there, you may want to check on your car or consider moving it to a different lot,” he said. “They were probably dealing with making sure everything was okay, though so it’s fine.”
Quetell said it is partly up to the students to make sure their cars are okay during storms.
“You should always be aware of your car,” he said. “It’s just a good idea in general, not just at school.”
