By: CHRISTINA CLARK
Editor-in-Chief
clark66@iu.edu
Storms on Thursday, Sept. 20, poured rain onto the IU South Bend campus. Surrounding areas experienced minor flooding as storm drains fought to keep up with the rainfall.
The street parking along the low banks of the St. Joseph River saw drivers taking caution and those parked likely waiting for the water to subside during and following the storm.
Cars parked along Northside Boulevard near Veterans Memorial Park early Thursday evening may have had trouble as the water rose around them. By Friday afternoon, at least one car was being towed from the previously flooded area.
“This section on Northside Boulevard is the lowest point of the area,” said Cara Grabowski, director of marketing for the Department of Public Works for the City of South Bend, on Friday afternoon. “It is a riverbank neighborhood, which is prone to flooding. When there is an intense storm in a short duration like we saw yesterday afternoon, the drains are playing catch-up and it’s possible the system may be temporarily overwhelmed.”
Other reports of water on campus came from Northside Hall and Wiekamp Hall.
“The storms yesterday caused some minor leaking in three classes in Northside Hall and two exterior doors had leaks due to windblown water coming in,” said Ken Baierl, director of communications and marketing at IU South Bend. “That was the same problem on the doors to the second floor patio in Wiekamp Hall.”
The areas effected on campus had been cleaned and dried, with “no current operational problems,” according to Baierl on Friday evening.
The university itself did not receive reports of flooding in parking lots or damage to vehicles parked on campus.
“As part of the City’s Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan, additional capacity will be provided for this area in the coming years,” said Grabowski.
