As students returned from Fall Break on Tuesday, October 17, they expected to have a quiet, relaxing evening before classes resumed the next morning. However, around 10:40 p.m., residents across campus were bewildered to find the water from their showers, faucets and drinking fountains abruptly slowing to a trickle.
The aftermath of the library flodding, on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
As students, RAs and staff alike began investigating and making calls, the source of the problem was quickly revealed: Kresge Library was flooding! Several on-campus staff members, including facilities services employees Corey Dupree and Josh Underwood, entered the building and began to assess the situation, immediately determining that the water main for the library needed to be shut off.
As they began to work, however, surprising reinforcements arrived! A group of students from Borderlands, as well as two students from Jubilee, entered the library and began wading at once into the half-inch high standing water to quickly remove chairs, tables and desks in its path. Within minutes, more students from Carter and Founders—men and women alike began arriving, each equipped with a heart to serve the Lord on the last night of Fall Break.
Quickly, several faculty members managed to turn off the main water supply to the library, restoring water pressure to the rest of campus. Simultaneously, the growing group of students succeeded in moving every piece of furniture into newly-cleared dry areas of the first floor. With the help of several campus work-study supervisors, they then retrieved various water-extracting machines and squeegee mops before tackling the momentous task that lay before them.
Students and staff alike rapidly fell into a rhythm, mopping up various sections of hard floor, pushing water with rubber brooms towards those running the large machines, and protecting and removing any low-shelved books that appeared to be in danger.
“It was fun but sad,” said Bree Osmundsen ‘26. “I was just singing, ‘When peace, like a river…’”
Although the problem was far from being resolved, reinforcements continued to arrive. Many Facilities supervisors, some of whom live over 30 minutes from campus, arrived on the scene, even as additional students continued to show up.
Despite the fact that progress was being speedily made, the endeavor was not without its challenges. Many of the machines being used were old and repeatedly stopped working. In addition, they were quite small, and even the largest ones had to be wheeled outside to be emptied every few minutes.
Another problem quickly became obvious—there were more machines than there were extension cords. As the night wore on, some students began swapping full machines for empty ones in order to maintain the best use of the electric cords while the extra pieces of equipment were drained by others. Furthermore, even as the machinery was operational and drying the floors well, every device was suddenly shut off! The workers quickly realized the power overload had blown the breaker, and within a minute or two, the circuit was operational once more.
Although these problems persisted throughout the night into Wednesday, and despite the power blowing at least two additional times, all the standing water was gone by 1 a.m. Most student volunteers began to trickle back to their dorms, while a few continued to help retrieve dehumidifiers from elsewhere, empty extracting machines, and move a case full of rare books to safety.
After the students left, facilities and staff workers continued to dry the floors, working well past 3 in the morning to prepare for opening the next day.
By the morning, the library was surprisingly dry. When the building opened at 10 a.m., only slightly delayed from its ordinary schedule, dehumidifiers and fans hummed merrily throughout the room as students continued to use the building like normal, albeit with the occasional wet spot here and there.
Todd Bridges commented, “I do not know for certain [if anything was damaged], but I think everything was okay.”
Overnight, order was semi-restored to the Kresge Library and to all of campus—thanks to the help of faculty and students who stepped up together at midnight to serve Christ.