Collegio Online

Issue date: 6/14/07 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: photo courtesy Greg Grisolano A van sprays a plume of water onto William Capps, center, and his sister and cousins as they play in front of their home on West Seventh Street in Pittsburg. Heavy rains over the last few days left water more than 9 inches deep in parts of the street.

Media Credit: Shiho Itooka/Collegio Lightning knocked over this tree at University Commons on Sunday, June 10. Rain from this storm contributed to flooding.

Media Credit: Doug Graham/Collegio Water blocks the path of two vehicles just west of the intersection of Quincy and Hwy. 69 Bypass.

Media Credit: Doug Graham/Collegio A truck, golf cart in tow, stops in front of a flooded street between the golf course and the baseball diamond at Lincoln Park on Monday, July 11. The street was one of many cordoned off by city workers after a storm left much of Pittsburg flooded. More rain came the next morning.

As rain poured down Tuesday morning, June 12, campus clean-up crews were already struggling to keep up with water damage from the days before.
"We had basically 12 or 13 inches (of rain) in two or three days," said Tom Amershek, assistant director of the PSU physical plant. "But it's nothing we can't survive."
Amershek says he received 25 to 30 reports of flood-related problems, including pools of water, build-ups of mud and leaking ceiling tiles inside buildings.
Although Amershek says the damage isn't as bad as it could have been, housing maintenance supervisor Larry Reese says it was "bad enough."
"We seem to get a little bit every time it rains," Reese said, adding that the heavy volume of rain made things a bit worse.
PSU wasn't hit as hard as some areas of Crawford County. Eldon Bedene, the county emergency management director, declared Crawford County a disaster area on Monday, June 10, and the county commission signed a resolution to further the process the next day.
Bedene says the damage isn't as bad as he thought it would be, but the extra manpower might come in handy if Gov. Kathleen Sebelius makes it official.
"(Declaring a disaster area) protects the county," Bedene said. "If the government declares the area, it gives us the opportunity to use the National Guard, the Department of Transportation and the Highway Patrol."
While the PSU campus had relatively minor problems compared to the rest of the area, it was still bad enough to keep the custodial staff busy.
"We were all down there with wet vacs and mops and buckets," said Overman Student Center custodian Ruby Ashmore after sopping up water pools that had built up in the basement. "If it keeps raining like it is, it's going to happen again."
In addition to the student center, Hughes Hall, Yates Hall, Tanner Annex and Dellinger Underground were all affected by the flooding. The basement of Kelce Hall was also flooded, but Amershek says that part is empty.
Yvonne Gaddy, custodial supervisor in Yates Hall, says large lecture hall at Yates 102 was in particularly bad shape, with "filmy dirt" piling on the floor. Gaddy says night custodians were up until 4:30 a.m. Tuesday cleaning it off.
Amershek says the flooding is due in large part to the university's drainage system simply being too small to handle such large volumes of water. He says he plans to talk to plumbing supervisor Jack Freeman about how the system can be improved.
Custodians weren't the only part of the campus community affected by the flooding. Brett Longmore, junior in social work and psychology, says that although he could get to school easily since he lives just blocks away, he had three classes canceled on Monday and Tuesday.
Teachers and students from the Joplin, Mo., area were particularly obstructed. Bedene says most major roads between Joplin and Pittsburg were closed Monday and Tuesday, including Highway 171.

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