Broken pipeline covers PE building staircase with mud

The intrusive effects of the monsoon season came to a head as a staircase leading to the bottom floor of the Philip van Engelen (PE) building was flooded with mud and slurry, covering the surrounding area with a thick layer of dirt.

August 14 brought extremely heavy rain, resulting in a damaged and leaking water pipeline. This, combined with the slope of dirt leading directly into an opening at the bottom of the staircase’s housing, resulted in a miniature landslide, burying the stairs in sludge.

The area surrounding the staircase was also visibly affected; the grass in the areas adjacent to the staircase was also buried in silt.

There were no property damages although a large area was affected as the water flowed down the stairs. There were no obvious long-term effects aside from a large amount of mud to be washed away.

Although heavy rainfall is expected during this season, flooded staircases are usually not a problem and similar incidents are unheard of.

The floors of the building have since been cleaned, but evidence of the incident remains in the dirt-caked ground and in a thin layer of sediment left on the staircase.

Although the ongoing monsoon has come with many inconvenient obstacles to students, the proximity of the flooding to nearby classrooms and areas of traffic makes the interruption more noticeable, especially to PE building occupants.

Current construction projects near the staircase include a canal to redirect rainwater and prevent an incident like this from occurring again.