Flooding in Oak Ridge again

At around 7:57 p.m. on Nov. 26, UW-Eau Claire police responded to Oak Ridge Hall for a call about flooding in the basement. 

When the officer arrived, several resident assistants were checking the basement rooms to see which rooms were flooded. The officer found flooding in the electrical room, hall director storage room, men’s restroom, all-gender restroom, custodial closet, garbage room, and laundry room and there was sewage water backing up in the floor drains.

Oak Ridge Hall had a similar flooding incident in September. The officer said the flooding and drainage issues were the same as that case.

The RAs had already cleared students out of the basement, blocked the entrances and contacted the hall director. The officer contacted the on-call mechanic about the issue, who started fixing the drainage. He said he was not planning on shutting off the water to the building at that time and the officer left the scene.

Later that day at around 10:30 p.m., the officer got a call from the hall director that the flooding was persisting and they needed custodial services to help with clearing the water. 

The mechanic and plumber were still working on the issue and they had to shut off the water to the building. Announcements and emails were made to notify Oak Ridge residents about the shutoff.

The officer went to Hibbard Hall to contact two custodial service workers and ask them to help with clearing out the water.

Fire alarm at Haymarket

At around 5:13 p.m. on Nov. 26, officers responded to an activated fire alarm at Haymarket Landing. Eau Claire Fire Department Engine No. 2 and Truck No. 5 also responded.

When officers arrived, ECFD was already on scene and an evacuation of the building had already taken place. The officer silenced the fire alarm while firefighters searched the room where the alarm had started.

Firefighters said the alarm had been set off by burnt food. They opened windows to ventilate the remaining smoke and said students could return to the building.

The officer contacted a worker and they reset the building’s fire alarm.

Stranded student help

At around 3:58 p.m. on Dec. 1, a UW-Eau Claire police officer was patrolling along Menomonie Street. At the stop lights on Menomonie Street and Clairmont Avenue, a white Chevrolet Equinox was stopped with its hazard lights on.

The officer stopped to help the driver and activated the squad car’s emergency lights for traffic control.

The driver, identified by his driver’s license as a UW-Eau Claire student living off-campus, said he didn’t know what happened, but the Equinox suddenly died. He had made several attempts to restart the car and requested a no-preference towing service.

Around 15 minutes later, towing services arrived on the scene to tow the disabled car. 

Mohr can be reached at [email protected].