Division of Safety and Operations officials said sections of the Science and Engineering Hall will stay closed Monday as crews repair damage from a burst valve over the weekend that caused “significant flooding” to parts of the building.
Officials said in a University-wide email sent Sunday evening that they have carried out “all efforts” to ensure the building is safe for occupancy and that the “integrity” of scientific research housed in SEH is protected, although crews were unable to fully restore the building by Monday. Crews were still working Sunday evening in several laboratories and offices on the building’s west side, with some rooms showing signs of flood damage from what the email said was a broken water valve in the eighth-floor greenhouse, which caused flooding from Friday night into Saturday morning.
“Progress is being made in remediating the impacted areas, but as of this evening, some areas of SEH remain unavailable,” the email states.
Officials said the flooding caused a building-wide elevator outage — except for elevators servicing the parking garage — which will remain shutdown at least through Monday. The email acknowledged the elevator outages limit access for community members with mobility issues and that it will pose challenges for some of the scientific work conducted in SEH, like the movement of chemicals or biologically hazardous materials.
Most sets of elevator doors throughout the building showed signs of water stains during a walk through by a Hatchet reporter Sunday evening. The email states officials will have a status update on elevator repairs in the building by Monday afternoon.
“All efforts are being made to expedite the repairs to the elevators,” the email states.
Officials said in the email that staff and faculty with workspaces in SEH will be notified about the status of their spaces on Monday by their school or supervisor, adding that instructors who teach in-person classes or labs in SEH will also be notified by Monday by their “school scheduling liaison” if their class or lab cannot take place in the building.
The email states students will be notified by their instructors of any changes to their class or lab location.
As of Sunday night, flood remediation equipment like floor blowers, fans, mops, vacuums and carpet extractors were still present on every floor in SEH. Some floors had large piles of black garbage bags sitting outside rooms located on the building’s west side.
Dozens of employees for BELFOR Property Restoration, a disaster remediation contractor, were seen working inside laboratories and offices in the building Sunday evening, mopping up water, positioning fans and sealing garbage bags with red tape.
A fourth-floor laboratory still had standing puddles of water with no drying equipment inside on Sunday evening. The office suites on the west side of floors four through seven — which are some of the few carpeted areas in the building — had significant amounts of floor blowers and drying equipment inside.
At least three GW Police Department officers were seen patrolling inside the building on Sunday evening.
Officials sent out a GW Alert at 1:23 p.m. Saturday stating the building was closed to all nonessential personnel until further notice due to flooding. The alert stated that technicians were on site assessing the situation and attempting to resolve it.
Officials limited tap access to the building to the 22nd Street mid-block entrance on Saturday only for “essential work,” like research and lab maintenance, and advised community members to otherwise avoid the building. The 22nd Street mid-block entrance was the only entrance that remained open to tap access as of Sunday evening, with about a dozen students occupying the building’s lower floors in study rooms and common areas.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this issue may cause you,” the email states. “Campus Operations and Campus Safety personnel continue work to remediate the impacted spaces as quickly as possible.”
