On Monday, November 12, a water main break [1] under Chandler Street caused flooding to the front of campus and the Ghosh Science and Technology Building. As a result, the University was shut down November 13 and 14.
Crews worked overnight Monday and into Tuesday to extract water from the Ghosh Science and Science and Technology Building and assess damage. No other buildings were affected by flooding. The building is dry and was sanitized twice. Crews also worked to flush systems, dispose of ice and clean up the grounds.
After power was shut off on Monday, as a safety precaution, University officials worked with representatives from National Grid to address the process for restoring power to the campus. University officials also worked with the Massachusetts state building inspector, who was on site for two days.
Essential employees and university police remained on campus each day to assess the situation and continually update the community via the website, email, text messages and social-media channels.
Following the City of Worcester’s decision to lift the “boil water order,” resulting from Monday’s water main break, WSU opened for normal business on Thursday, November 15.
“We are very fortunate to have such dedicated university and city staff to bring our campus back on line so quickly,” said President Barry Maloney. “Fortunately, only one building was impacted by water from Monday’s water main break and only one classroom will be off-line due to clean-up work.” Those students’ classes are being held in alternate locations. Massachusetts building and elevator inspectors cleared the buildings and campus for use.