Grace Sharma

Following a pipe burst, and subsequent ceiling collapse and flooding yesterday, the hallway beside Newton Commons remains partially closed off on Jan. 24. “The leak [that] morning was fixed,” Director of Student Activities David Arthur said. “And then, probably around 11:15 a.m., the pipe completely broke, and that’s where [water] started coming down.”

Yesterday, on Jan. 23, at approximately 11:15 a.m. a pipe at the intersection between Nobel Commons staircase and the library burst. The ceiling collapsed and water poured out; as a result, the hallway beside Newton Commons was closed during lunch.

A pinhole leak first sprung in multiple locations along that hallway before school began, Director of Student Activities David Arthur said.

“The leak [that] morning was fixed,” Arthur said. “And then, probably around 11:15 a.m., the pipe completely broke, and that’s where [water] started coming down.”

After the pipe fully burst, Jefferson’s building engineer, Jason Carrico, shut down the water to the pipe.

“We called the building engineer, and he came in and shut the water down,” Arthur said. “But it took a while to get up to the roof. Then he figured out what pipe was broken, and we have an order in for the county to come and fix it.”

No faculties in Jefferson were affected by the water being turned off.

“All plumbing is good,” Arthur said. “The water came from a water-fed heat pump HVAC equipment. So everything is still working.”

While Carrico was shutting off the water, nearby classrooms were evacuated to Franklin Commons for the rest of the period. Senior Jahnavi Guduru was in her Law and Society class with history teacher Ilsa Trigoboff when the pipe burst.

“We were doing presentations and then we heard a bunch of water sounds outside,” Guduru said. “People at our table were like, ‘Oh my God, this sounds so aesthetic.’ It’s sounded like a Lo-Fi rain thing.”

Guduru’s caught a glance of the water pouring out of the ceiling on her way to and from the bathroom.

“The water was all on the ground, and the pathway to the bathroom was blocked, so I had to go across the school,” Guduru said. “The water was everywhere. It was ridiculous.”

As the hallway floor got covered in more water, the students in Trigoboff’s class and some others were moved to Franklin Commons.

“After I came back into class, a bunch of teachers showed up and they evacuated a bunch of the classes there to Franklin,” Guduru said. “Some people’s backpacks in the classroom next to us were in the cubbies so I feel bad for them. The water was right next to the door.”