Campus flooding

With many areas of Carbon County flooding over the weekend, USU Eastern campus had minimal water damage. The worst damage was the Geary Theatre’s roof leaking into the main auditorium covering 12 to 15 seat cushions with water. Buckets continue to catch the water and theatre students continue to wipe the water up on the floor.
The Jennifer Leavitt Student Center’s Welcome entrance carpet was wet from Saturday and Sunday’s rain. Personnel in the building said the cement step into the door is slopped towards the building and the carpet gets wet every time it rains.
Burtenshaw Residence Hall sustained water damage in the back of the hall. A resident adviser’s room had water leaking into it causing some minor damage. Kyle Willis, maintenance supervisor for residential life, said a pipe from the building adjacent to the hall was clogged, causing the water from its parking lot to spill into the back wall of Burtenshaw. He has addressed the problem. He hopes to have all the water diverted so this never happens again.
Aaron Jones’ Residence Hall had a first floor apartment carpet get wet. “All my clothes on the floor were wet,” said resident Hunter Free. “That’s when I realized my carpet was wet from the storms.”
The Geary Theatre roof leak has Corey Ewan concerned. Brent Innes contacted the Director of Facilities, Sheila Burghardt, who said the state usually handles roofs so she would get someone on it.
“Les Miserables” opens in two weeks and the theatre has a section of wet chairs and no power in the auditorium. “We expect large audiences for this production and want to shine for the community. We want to show the community the quality of USU Eastern theatre.
“We keep trying to make it work, but a theatre needs lights, chairs and a roof that does not leak,” Ewan said. He is worried about the old chair fabric not drying and causing a musty smell in the auditorium.
“The building will eventually get renovated, but it is looking pretty shabby right now. Add the wet chairs to those chairs already broken and it spells disaster. If it rains any time during the two weeks of the production, we’re not sure what we will do, Ewan said. “We are trying to figure it out, but have no viable solutions.”