[media-credit name=’JAKE NAUGHTON/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]

Chadbourne Residential College experienced flooding on several floors Saturday, with many residents of the building’s west wing forced to evacuate their rooms and remove their belongings to avoid water damage.

The incident began around 11 a.m. with a broken radiator coil in a room on the seventh floor shared by freshman Molly Sygulla and her roommate.

“I woke up, and it was really, really cold in my room, so I tried to turn the heat on and, (the radiator unit) just kept blowing cold air,” Sygulla said.

The radiator continued to blow cold air and eventually started to blow smoke and make popping noises. A friend helping Sygulla with the smoke soon noticed that water was leaking from the bottom of the unit.

Within 10 minutes, most of the seventh floor west wing was flooded, Sygulla said, and her room was covered in about three inches of water by the time the water was turned off.

The water proceeded through the floors and walls of the building, partially flooding the west wings on floors six through two and seeping down into the Residence Life Office on the building’s main level. House fellows and residents alike helped to inform residents to relocate their belongings to dry areas.

Melissa Hanley, a freshman and sixth floor resident of Chadbourne, was out of the building when the flooding occurred.

“It was kind of a shock coming back and seeing all of my stuff piled on the floor,” said Hanley, adding that several rooms were inundated with multiple inches of water.

Available maintenance staff on campus were sent to help with the situation, armed with towels, mops and water vacuums.

Although several water spots remain on ceilings and floors, the total damage has not been completely assessed.

“We had a lot of staff that went in and did a lot of cleaning, so I don’t know if there’s any other damage other than things just got wet,” said Director of University Housing Paul Evans.

Evans says the University Housing will not compensate Chadbourne students for lost or damaged items.

“We didn’t do anything that caused the [flood] to happen,” Evans said. “We always encourage students to make sure they have renter’s insurance, so in case something happens, then they would be covered.”

As of Sunday evening, dens on several floors still housed unclaimed items and about eight residents were advised to spend the night in other rooms, with others opting to do the same.

Freshmen Ashley Smith and Nyssa Becker experienced water pouring through a crack in the ceiling and several inches on the floor of their third-floor room. They were initially advised to spend the night elsewhere, but later given the OK to move back in.

“The air was really heavy, and the floor was still wet, so we just stayed in our friends’ rooms because it [was] not exactly great,” said Smith, who still has not moved back into the room.

Meanwhile, many of the residents are disenchanted with the way things were handled by University Housing.

“I’m not too happy about it from some of the responses I’ve heard from University Housing on what they’re doing for the students who were affected by it,” Hanley said.