Aggie Villagers awake waterlogged
High and dry did not describe the cars belonging to residents of Utah State University’s Aggie Village the morning of Nov. 26.
Residents awoke to find their parking lots flooded and cars swamped after a water main on 1000 North ruptured, releasing what Steven Daines, Logan Public Works inspector, said was tens of thousands of gallons of water.
Campus police made the residents move their cars to the streets or drier parking lots. Miller Towing donated its services for towing a few cars to higher ground.
A student on his way home from work reported the leak to Housing and Food Services and USU Police around 2 a.m., but many car owners were not alerted about the flood until 3 a.m., when water was already up to the windows of some smaller vehicles.
City crews worked until Tuesday afternoon fixing the broken water main. The eight-and-one-half-foot segment of pipe had a fracture that wrapped around it, allowing water to gush out, Daines said. The work required crews to dig out the water-saturated ground, leaving a crater that covered half the width of 1000 North.
This is standard procedure, Daines said. Incidents with broken water mains happen regularly.
“This is a small hole,” he said. “I’ve seen them four or five times as big.”
The parking lots have recently been re-paved and more steeply graded, allowing them to act as collection basins. That saved apartments from the flooding, Daines said.
“We lucked out good on that,” he said.
The university brought in portable restrooms to help residents whose water was off until late Tuesday afternoon.
–zlars@cc.usu.edu