A bitter freeze hit New England last weekend, resulting in record low temperatures on the mountaintop and a spate of building damage on the Hilltop.
A new wind chill record was measured on Mount Washington on Friday. A whopping minus 108°F on Friday, February 3 broke Mount Washington’s previous record of minus 102.7°F in 2004.
The dangerously low temperatures led to a series of unfortunate events in the dormitories on campus. “We responded to 10 calls this weekend regarding burst pipes, heating not working, and other miscellaneous calls regarding cold weather,” said Heather Arsenault, administrative assistant for campus safety and security.
Physical Plant director Jon Woodcock said they received 35 calls from Friday through Saturday. “From Friday evening we started getting calls about hot water and heating, or lack thereof. It went on all night and then we got calls about frozen pipes and systems across campus,” he said.
Some of the most talked about damage occurred at the Living Learning Commons and Fr. Bernhard Court’s Laundries (below). “The LLC vestibule has two sprinkler heads and a heater in it. The cold entered the sprinkler system and froze the first head, causing a leak, and an hour later the second head went out,” Woodcock explained.
The damages in the LLC appear to be minimal at this point. “The main damage would be some ceiling panels and paint in the basement. We use dehumidifiers and fans to get the moisture out, especially on the carpets,” he continued.
The ceiling collapse in the downstairs laundry room was caused by a frozen hot water pipe in the attic. “That’s going to involve a major cleanup and a cleanup company because of the amount of water, the insulation, and the sheetrock damage,” Woodcock said. The laundry room is currently not available to students. Residents in this area have access to laundry units at the LLC until damage is repaired.
“We need to dry out the room first. We have Soil Away, our third party provider, taking measurements in the affected areas every day. Once the moisture percentage goes down, we can take things apart and fix and replace,” he said. Since the ceiling collapsed over some laundry units, Physical Plant will let Automatic Laundry come in to inspect the machines.
Given the moisture created by the leaks, it is particularly important to dry the gaps to prevent mold growth. Physical Plant will not do mold testing unless they see a major problem. Past testing has shown that mold found on campus is standard, common in households, and does not affect mold species such as black mold.
The instruction to safely close all windows during the severe cold weather was repeated by everyone from the dean of students to residential life. However, open windows still caused problems in several buildings during the freeze. “We had an issue at Dominic Hall where someone opened the window and we had a burst pipe on the stairwell,” Woodcock explained.
Physical Plant continues to work diligently to monitor and repair last weekend’s damage. “We had temperatures well below what we’ve had all season. Unfortunately, temperatures like this will show us all our shortcomings and that was certainly the case this past weekend.”
On a positive note, some Anselmians took advantage of the bitter cold to test out a popular science experiment! Several videos surfaced of people pouring hot water into the air from a cup or pan. The cold air combined with the hot water instantly creates snow in the air. One such video comes from C-Shop’s Terry Newcomb, which inspired others to join in the fun.
Comments are closed.