Students' return to IU dampened by weather

Alyson Gross's apartment has no heat, no carpet and virtually no drywall on the ceilings or walls. All that occupies her spacious five-bedroom Varsity Villas apartment is a few large appliances and eight blaring industrial air movers. The sophomore didn't expect to return from the winter break to such a barren set. But who would expect a busted water pipe to ravage her property while she's away for the holidays?\nIt's not known if the break in the apartment's copper pipe system was caused by ice, oxidation or any of a number of other weather-related issues. \nBut with more than 30,000 students returning from a break which saw torrential snow and ice sweeping through the Midwest, an angry tsunami taking hundreds of thousands of lives and destroying entire Indiana Ocean islands and constant rain here in Bloomington, one thing is sure: The power of water has never been more prevalent.\nA pipe on the second floor of Gross's apartment burst over the break, spewing water on the entire apartment. On the first floor, drywall flaked and split off the walls onto Gross's and her roommates' furniture and belongings. The ceiling bulged groundward, gravid with the upper level's dirty secret, before finally crashing down and passing the buck to another unassuming floor. Gross said the basement, a bedroom, was almost totally destroyed.\n"Water was pouring out of my roommate's drawers," she said.\nAlong with the soggy drawers, Gross said many of the personal belongings in the basement were damaged. Although much of the second floor was spared from major ruin, falling drywall tormented objects on the main floor and buckets of water, which settled in the basement, charged another hefty toll.\n"It's nobody's fault," Gross said. "It just happened."\nThe tenant said her landlord has relocated the four occupants in a smaller but cheaper apartment.\nEven dorm life can be wet. Heather Martin, a freshman living in a basement apartment in Ashton-Mason, said flood waters began creeping into her room Wednesday afternoon. \n"I was mad," Martin said. "Mason's a little bit cheaper than the rest of the dorms, but we pay so much money to live here and there's still all these problems. It's ridiculous."\nShe said maintenance crews spent the entire night pumping water out of her dorm.\nIn a house off Henderson Street, senior David Seng said rainwater seeped into the bottom floor from the outside.\n"There's not really anything we can do," Seng said. "We may take some brooms and try to swish the water toward the door."\nThe foundation's seal apparently broke Tuesday night, giving way to the fruits of heavy rainstorms in the area. \n"I've been telling people to come over to go swimming," he said. "We have a new pond downstairs."\nGross, who, along with her roommates, has already moved out of her ravaged apartment, said the news to which she returned made her bad week worse. \n"I was kind of in disbelief," she said. \nGross was told repairs on her apartment won't be finished for two months. While the group is frustrated by all the required moving, Gross said the scenario has at least one advantage -- a refurbished home.\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.