The first time Akunna Ogbu and Oreoluwa Ogunyemi’s
apartment flooded in late August because of a faulty pipe,
maintenance workers stripped and sawed one of their walls, tore up
their carpets, and ran eight de-humidifiers that were extremely
loud and raised the temperature in the apartment.
“We couldn’t hear each other without
screaming,” Ogbu said.
“It was really hot with the de-humidifiers, like 90
degrees,” Ogunyemi added.
The roommates are both first-year graduate students in the
medical school and met each other while visiting a medical school
in New Jersey.
Ogbu tried to move into her apartment in July, but after she
drove down to UCLA from Oakland with her father, she was told she
was going to have to stay in temporary housing because her
apartment wasn’t ready.
When she finally was allowed to move into Weyburn Terrace, her
windows didn’t have blinds, one of the outlets wasn’t
covered, and a closet door was missing.
Then there was construction on their roof, waking the two up
almost every morning at 6 a.m. with the sounds of pounding, talking
and cursing. One morning, Ogunyemi was so fed up that she walked
outside in her night-gown and asked the workers to stop.
And then there was flooding ““ twice. The first time was in
late August and the second was in mid-October.
After the second flood, maintenance crews tried to begin repairs
the night before Ogunyemi and Ogbu’s final in
“Foundations in Medicine.” The pair told the crew to
leave and come back later because they had to study.
Below their apartment, first-year law student Gloria Labbad also
felt effects of the flooding.
The first time, water dripped through the ceiling and soaked her
comforter and bed. “They opened up the whole (ceiling) the
first time,” Labbad said. “Walls were ripped out. You
could see the pipes. The carpet was ripped out.”
The second time, Labbad entered her apartment and saw water on
the ground.
“I thought, “˜No way, this is not happening
again,'” Labbad said.
When the heavy rain started in Los Angeles in January, Ogunyemi
said her closet started leaking. She called the problem in but was
told to try and find a bucket, she said.
Ogbu and Ogunyemi laugh when talking about the problems with
their apartment. They even have a joke about how they think the
entire complex could be destroyed.
“If there’s ever an earthquake,” Ogunyemi
said, “this place is going to fall like a deck of
cards.”
By Ari Bloomekatz, Bruin staff.