A sprinkler pipe burst on the south west side of Armstrong Commons prompting an evacuation Sunday, Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. As many as 30 or more rooms have water damage. According to sophomore and resident, Alyssa Harrison, there was a leak in the emergency sprinkler system on the 5th floor.

“Everyone had to evacuate for about an hour, and those of us whose rooms were impacted were called to go inside to save any stuff,” said Alyssa Harrison, resident and Sophomore psychology major.

As water damage continued to accumulate throughout the night, fire alarms were tripped. In an email update sent to residents, electricians were on site at 8 a.m. to work on the tripped circuits that were causing the alarms to go off. In addition, the facilities staff is onsite to assess damages and work on making repairs to damaged areas of the commons.

“SMU Facilities and a commercial restoration company worked through the night to remove the water and are continuing to clean, dry and restore affected areas,” said Jennifer Post Director of Residence Life in an email interview.

“Once everyone was allowed back into the building the residents who weren’t affected and our facilities staff were really great and immediately started to help clean up,” wrote Harrison.

Lauren Anne Cove, Residential Community Director arranged for students to stay at the Magnolia Park Cities hotel.

“For those that are in rooms that are impacted, we estimate between two days to one week before your room will be repaired,” Cove wrote to students in an email.

Post will keep students update as rooms are repaired.

“We will keep students updated as repairs proceed,” Post said in an email interview.
“We know this has been an inconvenience, and we appreciate students’ understanding”

The Daily Campus will update the story as more information is made available.