Five Longwood buildings impacted by major water main break, Wygal and Beford halls will remain closed Tuesday
Published 7:30 am Tuesday, December 8, 2015
- A pump sucks water into a storm drain at Bedford Hall on Race Street.
A 10-inch water main break in Farmville flooded the ground floor of Bedford Hall at Longwood University and temporarily closed Bedford, Wygal, Greenwood Library and the communications studies building Tuesday.
The Race Street water line break affected the other buildings because power and water was disconnected from that portion of campus, according to Longwood spokesman Matt McWilliams.
The incident was reported during the second day of Longwood’s week-long exam period.
The break in the line also affected Stubbs Residence Hall, which had no water on Tuesday morning, according to an email sent to students from Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Tim Pierson.
“We’ve got a water main that broke on Race Street. It’s flooded the building, the first floor of the building,” Town Manager Gerald Spates said early Tuesday morning.
A split in the pipe caused massive amounts of water to leak into the street and the Bedford. “Probably about 10 to 12-feet,” Spates responded when asked how much line would need to be replaced at the break. Work continued through Tuesday afternoon.
Water stands on the ground floor of Bedford Hall.
The recently built Bedford Hall houses Longwood’s the art and graphic and animation design programs.
Spates said Tuesday there was “several inches” of water on the ground floor of the building, located on Race Street on Longwood’s main campus.
Spates couldn’t say what caused the break. “It’s just cold weather. It happens all the time … It’s just like plumbing at your house. We’ve got miles and miles of pipes and you’re going to have issues from time to time. It happens everywhere, especially when you get temperature changes.”
Spates said he didn’t think the break had to do with the increased pressure on the lines from the new water tank.
“I’m sure it’s pretty significant,” he said of the potential damage caused by the water to Bedford Hall. “And it’s unfortunate that it happened, but there’s no way to prevent it. Those pipes that are there through the college are fairly new. They’re not new-new but they’re not that old.”
“It’s just isolated in this one block of Race Street,” Spates said.
Spates said that town crews were attempting to turn the water off to the building to stop the flooding.
