Knott room floods in `crime-free' break
By JASON McFARLEY
Assistant News Editor
It wasn't just students returning from break that came pouring into Knott Hall on Sunday.
One room in the North Quad residence hall remains waterlogged and inaccessible folllowing flooding that resulted from a cracked pipe.
Damage from the burst pipe, located above the hall's first-floor weight room, was discovered on Sunday, Knott rector Brother Jerome Meyer said. The damage was limited to the weight room.
A new pipe was installed on Monday, and as of Tuesday afternoon, Meyer said "things are under control."
The weight room, which is still being cleaned by maintenance personnel, will be available for use by the end of the week, according to Meyer.
Despite the closing of the weight room and other problems associated with the flooding, Knott resident Kevin Hagerty said the situation hasn't been a major inconvenience. On Sunday Hagerty and residents in his second-floor section of Knott were prohibited from using the showers in the area of the building located directly above the weight room.
"It wasn't a problem using showers in another section," Hagerty said. "It was really no big deal."
Rex Rakow, director of Notre Dame Security/Police, said the plumbing problems weren't unique to Knott Hall. Over winter break, Rakow received several complaints concerning frozen pipes.
In general, the problems were limited to administrative offices, with incidents of pipe freezing occurring in Grace and Flanner halls and the Main Building, according to Rakow.
As of Tuesday, Rakow reported only one other incident — a vandalized vending machine in the LaFortune Student Center in late-December — brought to his office's attention.
Rakow downplayed other safety concerns, characterizing much of winter vacation on campus as uneventful and crime-free.
All News Stories for Wednesday, January 17, 2001
