Approximately 45 students were relocated to Hopper Hall late Saturday night after a rupture in a hot water pipe on the 5th floor C Wing caused them to be flooded out of their rooms in Langdale Hall.

Dean of Student Affairs, Russell Mast, was there to quickly assess the situation.

“The majority of the damage was done to the fifth and first floors,” Mast said. “We are still assessing interior walls and pipes to see if there are any other damages that we are not aware of.”

Sophomore, undecided major Nicki Burrell remembered being confused the night of the flood.

“I had just walked in and I didn’t know what was happening, but my hall mate called me and told me the hall and the rooms closest to the bathroom were flooded,” Burrell said. “I didn’t know if it was any of my stuff, but I went to check just in case.”

Students, including Kimberly Roney, were not happy with the aftermath.

“Books, clothes, shoes, and other stuff was ruined,” Roney said. “Nobody has even said anything yet, they’re just moving people to temporary rooms.”

According to Mast, VSU will handle subsequent damages.

“It appears that the water affected student clothing that was on the floor of their room,” Mast said. “We had their clothes professionally cleaned and returned to them.”

Serv-Pro, a corporation that specializes in these types of cleanups, was called to assist in water removal as well as to clean damaged areas.

“They left their dryers on for the next two days to dry the entire building,” Mast said. “They finished cleaning around 5 a.m.”

While some students settled into their temporary housing, others felt inconvenienced.

“I think the whole thing was ridiculous,” Burrell said. “I felt like nobody took responsibility for what happened. They need a new procedure or something.”

There have been some ideas as to the cause of this sudden incident.

According to Mast, a faulty pipe connection may have caused the problem.

“Plant Operations is currently in the process of selecting an independent consultant to conduct testing of the plumbing system and figure out what happened,” Mast said.

University Police were the first to respond and contacted the appropriate VSU personnel.

Director of Housing, Dr. Tom Hardy felt the situation was handled as well as possible.

“I want to extend my appreciation for all the help in this unfortunate occurrence,” he said. “I even had two other senior members of Housing who stayed all night to ensure every student was relocated properly.”

Students affected have now been given the decision to move back to Langdale or stay in Hopper Hall.

“We are giving students the opportunity to take some time to make their decision,” Mast said. “We won’t have final numbers of who will stay where until next week.