A rusted air conditioning pipe in the basement of McKinley burst around 1 p.m. Tuesday, causing damage to several computers in the computer science program's server room, according to Matt Boerum, the audio technology program's studio manager.
The pipe, which ran across the center of the basement floor, broke and poured a stream of water throughout the basement, he said. When the air conditioning pressure system turned on for the first time in the season, the pipe gushed water within a minute.
"The computer science server room was completely flooded," Boerum said. "They have most of their computers on racks, but there was still some stuff that got ruined."
Boerum said that there were approximately five rooms damaged by the flood. The main hall in the basement was completely flooded. The two inches of water that accumulated on the ground looked dirty, he said.
Audio Technology program director Paul Oehlers said the flood came extremely close to damaging $70,000 worth of new equipment in the offices in McKinley's basement.
"Water came within a foot of damaging several of our brand new amplifiers," Oehlers said. "Students haven't even been able to use them yet."
The Audio Technology program lost a computer, but the flood only damaged or ruined about 2 percent of its equipment, according to Boerum.
"A lot of expensive equipment that we count on was in that basement," he said. "Irreplaceable equipment was in danger of getting wet."
The sound of the pipe burst was extremely loud, Boerum said.
Aramark and Facilities Management personnel came and cleaned up the mess. They had cleaned up most of the mess by 4 p.m. Tuesday, he said.
The Eagle contacted Facilities Management, but did not receive a reply by press time yesterday.
Oehlers said that it is important that AU move the Audio Technology program out of McKinley as soon as possible.
"The building is literally falling apart around us and there is not much that we can do about it, other than complain to facilities management," he said.
This was not the first time McKinley has flooded, but all previous instances occurred because of excess rainwater, Boerum said.
