3 A.M. pipe burst leads to Voorhees Evac

STUDENTS LOOSE EVERYTHING — A couple rooms have been completely destroyed by the floods. Although no specifics about what will happen to the students belonging has been
released, the students have been relocated as the damage to their rooms are further analyzed. (Hope College)

Fire alarms went off between 2:30 and 3 in the morning on Sunday, giving the 103 residents of Voorhees Hall a rude awakening. Water, pouring from the attic made its way all the way down to the hall’s basement. Quickly, the residential life staff of Voorhees acted to evacuate the residents, ushering them into the dry walls of Winants Auditorium.

“We stayed in Graves watching The Office on Netflix,” said Nicole Radgens, RA of Voorhees Hall.

As residents got comfortable in Winants, they wondered what was going on. Was there a fire? Eventually they learned the truth: a fire suppression pipe in the attic ruptured, which caused water to downpour through the center of the 110-year old building. An emergency crew was able to come and take care of the pipe, stopping the flow, allowing the co-ed residents to return to their rooms at 5:30 a.m.

At this moment it is unsure what caused the pipe to break, but one RA of Voorhees Hall speculates the pipe may have frozen over in the intense and sudden cold from the days prior.

Two rooms were directly impacted by the water, further inconveniencing two students. Radgens explained that members of the Physical Plant came Sunday night to assist the students with clearing out what was damaged by the water. As of now, the affected students have been moved to other rooms on campus for the time being.

While Hope has gone through recent cosmetic renovations, such as fresh coats of paint in Dykstra, Gilmore and Van Vleck, some students are left wondering if the residential halls, especially the older ones like Voorhees and Van Vleck, need more extensive mechanical overhauls to get them into tip-top shape. Yet, as some wonder about this, Voorhees professional staff and its student occupants are just thankful that the damage was concentrated to a single area and is being taken care of with the utmost urgency.