After residents of Carrollton Hall were evacuated from the building on Feb. 13 due to flooding, Physical Plant works to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

Thomas Raymond, assistant vice president for administration, said the flooding began after a water main in the Carrollton Hall equipment room started to leak.

“We cannot be sure what caused the leak to develop, but we suspect it may have something to do with the extensive street and infrastructure improvements underway in the city of New Orleans,” Raymond said.

He said the work that the sewerage and water board is doing in the city may have created changes in the water pressure, which could have lead to a leak starting.

Residents were moved to the Danna Center while the residence hall was cleaned up. The students were treated to an impromptu pizza party in the St. Charles Room as they waited for the hall to be cleaned.

Amy Boyle, director of Residential Life, said five of the professional residential life staff members responded to the flooding. Resident assistants in Biever Hall came to help RAs in Carrollton as well.

Her staff helped with cleaning, controlling the crowd and moving furniture.

“The Carrollton RA’s were even getting their hand dirty and helping to push water out of the building,” Boyle said.

At around 1 a.m., the first floor was cleaned up enough for residents to return to their rooms for the night.

Raymond said Physical Plant staff made the repair by 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, and that they plan to replace some carpet and electrical equipment on the first flood.

“We reacted quickly to extract the water and have kept damage to a minimum,” Raymond said.

Boyle said she is happy with how physical plant and residential life worked together, and appreciates residents’ patience.

“Our working relationship with Physical Plant is very strong. The attention and care they showed the building and our students was paramount to the timeliness of their repair. I am so grateful for everyone’s perseverance during the stressful evening,” Boyle said.

According to emails sent out by Boyle to residents, physical plant workers spent the rest of the night and next day repairing the pipe and restoring water pressure in both Biever and Carrollton Halls. Water pressure was completely restored in both halls around 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 14.

Residential Life partnered with Sodexo to give residents of both Carrollton and Biever Halls cupcakes promising “no leaks, just treats” on Feb. 16.

Physical Plant workers spent the next few days making repairs and helping to clean up the mess left by the water.

“We continue to monitor conditions in the building, and to clean and deodorize the affected area,” Raymond said.

Danielle Horton, philosophy pre-law sophomore and Carrollton resident, said she was surprised by the initial chaos of the flooding, but believes Residential Life and physical plant staff have done a good job handling the problem.

“They’re doing well with the resources they have,” Horton said.