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Storm drain blockage causes flood in UCLA Store

By Sean Greene

Nov. 4, 2009 12:16 a.m.

It was sort of like a waterfall.

“It wasn’t like a dripping pipe or anything … but it was just free-flowing in from the ceiling line and onto the stockroom floor,” said Patrick Healey, the UCLA Store’s general merchandise manager.

During the last rainstorm, a blockage in a storm drain caused a flood in the UCLA Store. The water entered through the BearWear stockroom and spilled out into the sales floor, said Leilani Donato, Associated Students UCLA facilities maintenance manager.

The UCLA Facilities and Plumbing shop found and cleared the blockage Monday and are now investigating the possibility of a breakage in the line.

“What I’ve been told is if rain occurs again, the water should be able to surge down the storm drain,” Donato said. “The potential of a flood occurring in the store again is very minimal.”

If another blockage occurs, it is possible that another flood could take place.

The Oct. 14 incident caused an estimated $300,000 to $500,000 in damage to the Ackerman building and $60,000 to store merchandise.

ASUCLA’s facilities and merchandise are insured with a 10 percent deductible, so if the damages come out to the full $500,000, the board would have to pay $50,000 to fix the structural damages, said Rich Delia, chief financial officer for ASUCLA.

“I don’t like taking the hit, but you know, what are you going to do?” Delia said. “It’s not the end of the world, but it’s not something we would have wished.”

“These things happen. We’re happy that it wasn’t worse,” he added.

Delia said he will not know how the flood affects the month’s finances for about a month.

By now, the store has mostly recovered from the flood, said floor supervisor Francisco Menendez.

“Our maintenance here is very on top of things,” he said. “I think (the hardest part) was just taking the loss on the merchandise. Everything is pretty much back to normal, as if it never happened.”

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