Issue 147

Library flooded due to long torrential rains

23rd October 2006

Heavy and long periods of rains overworked the University underground drainage system on the 10 October, causing water to swell through the man holes and causing flooding on level one of the West Wing in the Library. Due to the valuable nature of some of the archive material and also due to the Library's history of flooding, the Library has been fitted with an environmental monitoring system which sounds an alarm if floods are imminent. This monitoring system sounded the alarm at 2 a.m. leading to a quick response from the university's maintenance staff.

The West Wing of the library was inaccessible to users whilst the water was being drained, however the Library staff did provide a fetching service for urgent items whilst the work was going on. Most of the water was drained by the afternoon and the West Wing was reopened the following day. No library stock was damaged.

Pete Swan