Record low temperatures closed campus and caused 35 students to move from their flooded campus residences this week.
Classes were cancelled Tuesday evening and Wednesday as temperatures dropped to 20 degrees below zero. The intense cold caused burst pipes in fire sprinkler lines, flooding 10 resident rooms in Steamboat House and an office in Monarch House Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.
Of approximately 900 students residing on campus, about 90, mostly freshmen, live in Steamboat House. Water lines to fire sprinklers burst on the residence hall’s third floor. Thirteen affected students opted to stay with friends or family and 22 students and two staff members were relocated to a nearby hotel as contractors worked to repair the damage. All were expected to move back into their rooms in a few days.
“Student welfare is our first priority,” Susan Szpyrka, senior associate vice chancellor, administration and finance, said.
The affected students live on the north side of Steamboat where the burst pipe flooded rooms on three floors of the building. In Monarch, a broken pipe displaced employees in an office on the first floor of the building.
The UCCS Facilities Department reported other minor problems as a result of the weather. A frozen fire sprinkler pipe was discovered in the Engineering and Applied Science building prior to its bursting. Other preventive measures were taken to reduce weather-related problems and to allow campus to reopen on Thursday.
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