A half-inch of standing water filled the Bennink dorm laundry, storage and trunk rooms through the drains this past Sunday afternoon, leaking into the basement hallway. Campus safety was alerted that afternoon by a resident assistant (RA) of Boer-Bennink (BB), and the issue was resolved within a few hours.

The on-call supervisor for building services called a plumbing service on the way to the dorm. Water was discovered to be coming from a blockage in the drainage pipe system, caused by flushable wipes and other non-dissolvable items caught on the pipes’ sides, according to Michelle Guinyard, the resident director (RD) of BB.

Guinyard said the clearing of the drains took about an hour and a half, while the cleanup took about two hours. No damages were incurred by the basement or any personal property. Building services sanitized the floor and everything is dry again. In other words, said Guinyard, “the basement feels back to normal.”

“To prevent this from happening again, I’ve communicated to my residents to only flush toilet paper in the toilets,” wrote Guinyard.