Both new and old buildings on the TU/e campus proved unable to withstand the heavy shower that passed over Eindhoven on the afternoon of Thursday June 7. At Gemini Noord and Zuid, Cascade and Spectrum, Catalyst and Twinning, Differ and the Multimedia Paviljoen, Flux and Laplace puddles dotted the floors. According to Peter Bloemers, head of the department Safety & Security, there is no lasting damage, “only the paper archives of the study association Lucid got wet”.

In the Paviljoen the water could be mopped up by the residents themselves, at other buildings the cleaning service GOM and maintenance service Unica got everything tidied up. “Nowhere was it really risky, except in Gemini where a server room got wet. At Atlas, where renovation work is still going on, the accompanying wind blew a couple of construction plates to the ground but they fell within the fencing and the building contractor was able to clear up without delay,” says Bloemers.

Via the ventilation shafts, water reached the floors of the pedestrian bridges and via front doors it reached floors below street level. Bloemers: “The shower passed over us very slowly and the drainage channels couldn't handle it. In a number of places the drains were blocked by leaves. But in general we got off lightly: wet floors and pedestrian bridges with dripping ceilings.”

No next time

Despite the fact that the weather is becoming more extreme, Bloemers thinks no changes need be made. “This much water is a rarity. The TU/e buildings are well maintained, there is nothing wrong with them. Problems at Kennisport used to occur often, the cellars kept on filling up. But that has been resolved by installing flaps in the sewer system. A structural measure like that isn't needed now. I see this as an incident. But having said that, a list has been drawn up. If another spell of severe weather causes problems in the same places, we'll take action. We won't keep on mopping up after the event.”