Wednesday Downpours Leave Parking Lots and Paths Flooded

Heavy downpours battered the Academy yesterday and left parts of campus waterlogged.

The most heavily affected areas were parking lots and several basements, according to Facilities Management Director of Projects and Building Systems Mark Leighton.

Campus Safety Services received information regarding flooding in the Tan Lane area. They blocked off the flooded parking lot and notified the owners of cars in the lot so they could be moved.

In addition, nearly all sports games scheduled after classes on Wednesday were cancelled. Junior varsity and varsity girls’ and boys’ cross country meets at St. Paul’s School were cancelled, along with junior varsity field hockey, football and girls’ soccer.

“Facilities Management and Campus Safety personnel will continue to monitor the campus and specifically the areas that have had water issues in the past.”

Water polo games continued as scheduled, and the boys’ varsity soccer home game was rescheduled to 4:45 p.m., once the flooding dissipated.

Upper and varsity girls’ soccer player Margaret Coogan said that Holderness, with whom the team was scheduled to play, had one turf field that was flooded due to the rain.

“We’re hoping that it is rescheduled,” she said. “We are really excited to get back on the field, so we are pretty bummed about the cancellation.”

Members of the boys’ cross country team were also frustrated with the cancellation. Although coach Brandon Newbould tried to convince St. Paul’s to run the race, their coach was adamant that his team did not wish to run in the inclement weather.

“We were all shocked [by the cancellation],” upper and team member Isaac Fingerson said. “This is cross country; we don’t not race because of the weather.”

In lieu of a meet, the team ran at Scamman’s Farm. Newbould kept the competition alive; “the St. Paul’s guys are probably inside right now doing pilates or something while we’re out here grinding,” Newbould told the team.

The girls’ team, by contrast, said that they were glad to have their race cancelled and  to break up what would have been three consecutive meets. “We were all pretty relieved,” lower Anna Clark said. “Now we have some rest time.”

While the race would have benefitted the team’s training, Fingerson said the run they completed was “good to have under our belts going into our race on Saturday,” a race of more than a thousand high school runners at the Maine Festival of Champions.

But while rain problems developed in the Athletic Department, others affected the Academy campus directly.

Grill counter-worker Patricia Taylor said that water rose in the parking lot behind the Post Office, affecting some cars that parked in more precarious locations.

But Taylor said that the water receded within a few hours, and that minor flooding occurs in the parking lot nearly every time that it rains.

Rains also caused flooding in the ITs parking lot and Fisher Theater. Fisher Theater has experienced problems with leaks in the past due to holes in the roof and other parts of the building.

Chair of the Theater and Dance department Robert Richards said that yesterday’s rain was the worst he has seen in his twenty years working at the theater.

Water reached the ground level of the building, where the black box is located. Because of this, Richards said that DRAMAT shows, which are performed in the black box, may be affected by the water.

On top of damage to the first floor’s infrastructure, mildew has ruined some furniture and costume pieces in the building and may have damaged an electric piano.

In coming days, Richards is planning to run a cost estimate that will be required to return function to the building.

Richards’ greatest concern was of a new leak in the ceiling “that comes right down into the house in between the audience and the stage. That’s a bad location for a leak. But, who knows, maybe we can get up there and patch it,” he said.

Despite the complications, Richards said that the theater is accustomed to coping with these challenges; a bucket sits downstairs most days to catch any rain that comes through the roof.

“It’s a building whose lifespan has basically expired,” Richards said, but he praised the support facilities management has provided. “The positive piece is that we have really great support, so I make a phone call to facilities and they come,” he said.

“It’s a really wonderful aspect of the community that these guys come over and tackle it.”

Facilities management employees were quick to respond across campus and remove water from buildings and parking lots. The flooding that occurred is unlikely to cause any harmful long term damage.

“Facilities Management and Campus Safety personnel will continue to monitor the campus and specifically the areas that have had water issues in the past,” Leighton said.

“When storms and heavy rain events such as these are forecasted, we are proactive to make sure systems operate as required.”