Officials are assessing the extent of damage caused by a ruptured underground water main near the Court of Sciences Student Center early Tuesday morning, which sent a flood of water into surrounding buildings.
The first floors of Boyer Hall, the Biomedical Sciences Research Building and the Molecular Sciences Building were all partially flooded, said Tim Petta, plumbing senior superintendent for UCLA.
Water also flooded into the basements in Boyer Hall and the Biomedical Sciences Research Building, Petta added. Inspectors are still determining the extent of the damage and the cost of repairs.
After the main burst around 4:30 a.m., about 30 UCLA facilities management workers arrived at the scene to begin the clean-up process, Petta said.
By 2 p.m., on the first floor of Boyer Hall, Jody Spillane and her colleagues were sitting in chairs pulled into the entrance to their office, trying to figure out what to do next. The office houses the UCLA ACCESS program, a graduate admissions program that serves 11 different degree-granting programs and helps first-year doctoral students find research opportunities.
Spillane, the program coordinator, received a call from her building manager early Tuesday morning, telling her the office had been flooded and that maintenance workers were moving as quickly as possible to resolve the issue.
When they arrived, the carpet was soggy and water was pooling on the floor, said Frank Nevarez, student affairs officer for ACCESS. By the afternoon, fragments of ripped-up carpet remained on now-bare floors, and the room smelled of antibacterial spray.
The ACCESS office staff was instructed to keep clear of the premises for the next 24 hours, Spillane said. She added that fortunately, staffers will be able to access their work materials from home.
She said she and her colleagues are not sure when they will have access to a workspace again. They expect to know how long the restoration will take by the end of the day today.
The cause of the flood and the break in the 8-inch water main are still being investigated. It is still unclear whether the rupture was related to ongoing construction at the site, Petta said.
Dhaval Dixit, a third-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, said he was concerned about mold growth in materials that got wet when water entered the Molecular Sciences Building.
“When we test bacterial growth, the mold and wetness would change the data,” Dixit said.
Facilities maintenance crews, which will include specialists, will be deploying fans to absorb the water and to prevent future mold, said UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton. The goal is to minimize inconvenience, he added.
Restoration work requires removing and replacing moistened surfaces, said James Mertes, the project manager for restoration. They are specifically looking at damage in Boyer Hall and the Biomedical Sciences Research Building, Mertes added.
The initial cleanup will be done Tuesday, but ongoing cleaning and restoration in affected buildings will last until the end of the next week, Petta said.
Contributing reports by Devin Kelly and Jingxi Zhai, Bruin senior staff.