Flood cleanup halts research

Graduate students and faculty in the Anthropology department have been in class-and-research limbo, while crews work to repair the basement after the Anthropology Annex flooded Sept. 1.

Wirt Wills, an anthropology professor, said the repairs should be finished in two weeks, but faculty members still haven’t been able to use their basement offices.
“Every week that goes by, we get further behind in our research,” he said. “Our projects all have time schedules, and we’re going to have to figure out how to make up for lost time.”

A ceramics class that met in the basement has been moved to two different classrooms and is shuttling between the two rooms depending on the day of the week, Wills said, but
neither classroom is set up for the lab the class requires.

“It has been awkward and inefficient, but we’ll have to get through it,” he said.
Custom Grading, Inc. made a mistake that caused the flood during construction of the new Sciences and Technologies building, said Mike Tuttle, manager of UNM’s Risk Management Department.

Tuttle said the company took responsibility for the accident, and he has been in contact with an insurance adjustor from Keenan and Associates, the insurance company handling the claim. He said the claim is expected to be finalized in about a month.

“It was very clear what happened, so the insurance company is not having any problems with the negotiations. We will get our money back in full from the company responsible,” Tuttle said.

Repairs have so far included drying the building out, replacing four inches of moldy sheetrock along the
bottom of the walls and replacing ruined tile, Tuttle said. He said actual repair costs are still being calculated, but the
numbers are confidential and will not be released.

“The numbers belong to the state and are classified, but I can say for sure that it will not be nearly as expensive as the Logan Hall flood. This time no contents or furniture was damaged, so it was just repairs to the building that we have to pay for,” Tuttle said.
James Boone, another anthropology professor who has a room in the basement, said contents weren’t damaged because faculty prepared for a flood.

“This building has flooded so many times. This flood wasn’t any different,” he said. “We always keep things off the floor so that in the case of another flood, it’s not such a big inconvenience.”