BATON ROUGE, La. — A freeze back in January caused some damage to LSU's campus and at the time the university downplayed the impacts. More details discovered problems were far more widespread than initially reported, according to our partners at WBRZ.
LSU released a document stating the cost of repairs would be around $1.6M. A video of a water-laden ceiling collapsing at Patrick F. Taylor Hall went viral after the freeze and also revealed almost two dozen facilities had problems too.
There were 18 on-campus buildings that had some type of damage and three off-site. School officials said trouble started at Alex Box Stadium with the building's fire-fighting system.
"Condensation got into the fitting, and then that condensation froze and expanded the fittings where the fitting broke, and then the air released out of the fire suppression system," said Matthew Montgomery, the stadium's general manager.
Workers said they found one problem when water started flowing again.
“The water was kind of going in the wrong direction, so we've since turned the valve the other way so that it points to the parking lot, and it’ll shoot into the parking lot if it ever fails again,” Montgomery said.
Buildings impacted included the Alex Box Stadium and the Hilltop Arboretum along Highland Road. Records show campus workers addressed some of the damage, but LSU also got outside help for the "worst problems," WBRZ reported.
Initially LSU said the cost of repairs for the damage at Taylor Hall would be less than $40,000. However, after being asked for an accounting three weeks following the freeze, LSU said it would cost $1.6M to fix.
“With over 500 buildings on campus to care for, it’s not as simple as going outside and doing what you do to your home," said Gerald Sansoni, LSU's assistant director of facility operations.
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