Following the heavy rain and localized flooding Monday night, Wey Hall received water damage in multiple locations, causing ceiling tiles and debris to fall from the ceiling.
The building is undergoing renovations to the second and third floors, and art students have recently voiced their concerns regarding safety during the construction process.
Zachary Fowler, a junior studio art major, said they witnessed the water damage, which consisted of water streaming from the ceiling when they entered the building around midnight.
“I couldn’t sleep because I was stressed about my prints from my final critique tomorrow,” Fowler said. “So I got up, got ready, headed to Wey probably around 12 o’clock-ish timeframe.”
Fowler said they entered the building through the side door and found the lights to the ceramics room were off, but said they could hear a dripping noise, which prompted them to turn on the lights and inspect the damage.
They said they found other instances of water damage in the sculpture casting area by the exit door and saw tiles that appeared to be wet in other locations.
Fowler said they heard the “quite horrifying” sound of ceiling tiles falling around them in the building.
“It honestly sounded like a brick falling and hitting, just like concrete or something like a very loud noise, which startled me a lot because I’ve held those ceiling tiles before and they’re very light but I guess when they soak up enough water, they become very heavy,” they said.
Fowler said they felt concerned for students who might try to enter the water-damaged areas to retrieve art projects.
“There’s no telling if the compromised wet tiles are going to fall right now or if they’re going to fall later,” they said.
Interim Department Chair for the Department of Art Joshua White said in a statement through University Communications that student artwork was not damaged.
“At the time, most student work had been removed. There were just a couple of remaining pieces. Those were undamaged and most materials had been packed and were in moving crates,” White said in the statement.
Fowler also said they observed water leaking onto packed-up ceramic supplies.
The art student said they saw students in another portion of the building that was unaffected by the water damage.
Anna Oakes of University Communications confirmed App State Police were later dispatched to the scene, writing, “At approximately 1:05 a.m., two App State Police officers responded to a report from a student about a water leak in Wey Hall. Facilities Management on-call staff were contacted to address a water leak coming from the ceiling of a first-floor room.”
Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Management Nick Katers said in a statement that the cause of the water leak has been attributed to a drain rupture onset by “extreme rain.”
According to Katers, the impacted areas — Clay Studio 119 and Casting Studio 118 — were closed off Tuesday morning. He said the building was already planned to close permanently until renovations are completed. The building will officially close at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Staff from App State’s Office of Environmental Health, Safety and Emergency Management conducted a walk-through of the building earlier today and did not identify any safety concerns resulting from the water leak,” he said.
Katers said in the statement that regular safety inspections have been completed in Wey Hall since March 25 and updates are regularly uploaded to the Wey Hall website. The most recent safety inspection posted to the website was on April 1.
