Breaking up the ice

On Monday, March 7th, 2011, Plymouth State University issued an emergency flood warning stating, "Cars @ PE Ctr, Ice Arena & Physical Plant MUST be moved ASAP!" followed by a link with temporary parking information.

This flood emergency was due to an increased amount of precipitation and a rise in temperatures, causing the frozen Pemigewasset  River to break apart and begin to melt, while also collecting water. 

While the first concerns were in regards to cars being parked in the Ice Arena and the PE center. More serious problems arose as Dean of Students Tim Keefe sent out an email saying, "I have just been informed that the PE Center and the Ice Arena are closed effective immediately due to imminent flooding danger."

As the rain turned to snow, another email was sent to students and faculty from the Chief Public Relations Director Timothy Kershner, which stated that route 175A in Holderness was closed, and that the Holderness Fire Department asked those living on River Street and A Street to be ready to evacuate. Kershner went on to say, "If evacuation is necessary, students living in these homes should go to the Hartman Union Building for assistance in finding temporary shelter." There were no confirmed actual reports of students needing to evacuate their homes

Tammy Hill, Physical Plant worker and Manager of Environmental Health and Safety at PSU, said that students moved very fast to relocate their cars, and it definitely helped. "Flooding during ice dams is very unpredictable and can occur quickly. We need time to move vehicles and we need time to secure buildings in preparation of flooding. When you add ice dams to the mix, there is less time to handle all of the tasks necessary to mitigate damage." 

Physical Plant and the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, in conjunction with University Police, are the people in charge of when the university is to evacuate cars from the ‘Holderness lots."  

Due to the fast response from students in moving their cars, Physical Plant was able to focus more on securing buildings. There was also no sustainable damage done to any student's vehicles. According to Hill, Physical Plant is "still determining what, if any, damage was caused to the parking lots."

The Ice Arena lot remains under quite a bit of water as of March 9th, but Physical Plant is working hard to eradicate the water and open the lot back up to students. University Police would also like to remind students that PSU parking is not allowed in any Speare Hospital lots, or in the St. Matthew's Church parking lot. To find out the latest information on flood updates, please visit www.plymouth.edu.