This post was updated Nov. 13 at 9:07 p.m.
Two flooding incidents in Rieber Hall on Monday and Wednesday displaced 18 students.
Parts of the second floor of Rieber Hall flooded Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning because of a plumbing issue in the second-floor women’s restroom, UCLA Housing said in an emailed statement. Both flooding incidents impacted the same six rooms, and the affected students were relocated to emergency housing, UCLA Housing added.
Maintenance crews cleared the pipes following both incidents, it said in the statement.
“The safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff remain our highest priority,” UCLA Housing said in the statement.
Thirty-two students living in Hedrick Hall were also relocated to emergency housing because of a separate flooding incident Thursday morning. A sprinkler was activated in Hedrick Hall’s stairwell, which caused flooding that impacted 11 rooms, UCLA Housing said in a Thursday emailed statement.
[Related: Hedrick Hall flooding damages property, displaces students]
Matthew Allamigue, a first-year psychobiology student, said the Monday flooding incident led to the closure of all bathrooms on Rieber Hall’s north side because the pipes are connected. Naomi Gutierrez, a first-year mathematics and political science student, said the toilets were clogged with menstrual products, which caused the flooding.
Both Gutierrez and Allamigue’s rooms were not impacted by the flooding, they said.
“It started leaking outside of the bathroom and then spreading onto the carpet,” Allamigue said. “They called emergency housing, but by that time, it was pretty big already.”
Melanie Rivera, a first-year human biology and society student, said all bathrooms except one in Rieber Hall North were reopened after the Monday flooding incident.
Krisha Brahmbhatt, a first-year neuroscience student, said the impacted students were moved to emergency housing units located in university apartments. She added that the students who were relocated received a Wednesday email informing them that they may have to live in emergency housing for about four weeks.
Rivera, who was not affected by the flooding, said the flood water was contaminated, which meant that the carpet needed to be replaced. Brahmbhatt said her room was close to the flooded area and smelled like sewage following the Monday incident.
“An hour later, it started to smell really bad, and then my room started to smell a bit,” she said.
Emergency housing staff placed fans and chemicals on the carpet after the flooding, Allamigue said. Allamigue added, however, that he is disappointed about his neighbors’ displacement because they often spent time together in the dorm.
“We feel bad because the people that moved out, we’re pretty close with (them),” he said. “We all hang out, but then now they’re in a different place.”
