No artwork harmed in SAVS sewage flood

The walls of the Bolivar art gallery in the School of Art and Visual Studies were cleared of artwork after the SAVS building’s second floor bathrooms flooded on the morning of Monday, March 26, 2018. 

Rick Childress

UPDATE: Classes will resume tomorrow, SAVS said via email Monday afternoon. Plumbing in the building has been repaired.

Students and faculty rushed to move endangered artwork after 10 toilets on the second floor of the School of Visual Arts building began suddenly overflowing. 

“Thank goodness this didn’t happen yesterday,” said Ruth Adams, the Associate Director of SAVS. “Because if it had, it was like turning on 10 sinks and letting them running for a day.”

Water flowed from the bathrooms, down to the first floor and eventually seeped into the basement, Adams said.

Artwork at risk of being damaged was moved before the water could harm them, Adams said. The flood was stopped within 15 minutes.

The school announced that classes were canceled in an email at 10:57 a.m.

Adams said employees from the Physical Plants Division responded quickly, cleaned up the water and will be disinfecting the building throughout the rest of the day.