Emmanuel College Residence Hall Damaged In Flood
December 16, 2010 - 11:56 a. m.
Written by:
Sara Ray
The ceiling collapsed above a student room and the second floor lobby.
The Emmanuel College community is coming together this holiday season to clean up damage caused by a flood in the King Street residence hall.
On Tuesday, December 14, a sprinkler line running through the attic burst in two places because of unseasonably cold temperatures. The ceiling collapsed above the second floor lobby and a student room.
According to Residence Hall Coordinator Liz Gardener, water cascaded throughout the dorm and stood two or three inches deep on the floor by the time the damage was discovered.
King Street, an all-female residence hall for upperclassmen, contains 18 rooms with the capacity to house 36 students. The 30 residents currently assigned to the dorm had left for Christmas break barely a week before the incident.
“It’s Christmas break, so students took home most of their clothes and valuables. I feel that’s the Lord’s providence because a lot of things could have been damaged, or even worse, somebody could have been injured,” says Gardener.
After notifying students of the damage on the morning of December 15, faculty, staff, and students remaining on campus gathered to salvage as many personal belongings as possible.
“It was a real blessing to see how the whole EC family came together. After the e-mail went around, everyone quit work, changed clothes, and started boxing up things in student rooms. They even volunteered to take home wet clothes and do laundry so students would have dry clothes and bedding to come back to,” says Gardener.
Senior Communication major Anne MacMillan was snowed in at her home in Rabun County, GA, when she received word of the damage to her room in King Street.
“I was worried because there was no way I could get to my room, which had half of my personal belongings in it, but my friends and the wonderful staff at Emmanuel College diligently took care of the water issue. They were a blessing by taking time, energy and effort out of their business day and putting it in to my situation,” she says.
According to EC President Michael Stewart, it will take an estimated five days to dry out the dorm. Then an environmental expert will be brought in to test for molds and allergens before contractors begin repairs. “It’s going be a temporary inconvenience because we’re full. We don’t have extra beds to shift people to, so we have to get this dorm operational again as quickly as possible. We also have a large number of new students coming in this spring [semester], which is about two and half weeks away,” he explains.
Despite this setback, President Stewart says everyone on campus is staying positive and expecting great things for Emmanuel in 2011. The students who have been affected seem to be staying positive as well.
Prayers are greatly appreciated, and anyone wishing to help with the King Street reconstruction can contact Brian James in the Office of Development by e-mailing bjames@ec.edu.
[Editor's comment: I am grateful to Bill Cox, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of Emmanuel College, for sending me this news bulletin written by Sara Ray. I am sure that President Michael Stewart would deeply appreciate your prayers and offers for financial support in this crisis. You may call the college to offer your assistance at two telephone numbers: 1-706-245-7226 or 1-800-860-8800.
The mailing address is:
Dr. Michael Stewart
President, Emmanuel College
P. O. Box 192
Franklin Springs, GA 30639
Posted on
Fri, December 17, 2010
by Hugh Morgan