Heavy rains cause power outages, water leaks across campus

A series of power outages this afternoon caused a loss of air conditioning in multiple campus buildings, and heavy rains led to some flooding along doorways, windows and ceilings.

As Tropical Storm Hermine crossed Bexar County, rains of up to 6 inches fell and winds of 41 mph gusted to 57 mph.

Pools of water splashed from underneath doorframes on the north side of the just renovated Nail Technical Center.

Bob Lay, LAN/PC technician in the computer information systems department, said that the water seeped into the hallway on the second floor.

As previously reported, newer buildings like the academic instruction center and Longwith Radio, Television and Film Building experience leaks when rainfall is heavy.

Water came in through windows in the offices of business faculty on the third floor of the academic instruction center.

Thomas Friday, business management professor, said he wasn't sure if water was dripping from the top or bottom of the window, but it was pooling on the windowsill.

"I think the worst is over, but I'm still mopping up," said Dr. Charles Hunt, business management professor, Tuesday afternoon.

Carpeting in the suite of campus radio station KSYM on the second floor of Longwith was drenched when rain leaked in through a sliding-glass door and a window on the east side of the building.

The second floor of Longwith has leaked every time there's heavy rain since the building opened in 2005.

"It's still huge; it's definitely hemorrhaging water into the building," RTF sophomore Robert Medina said at about 5 p.m.

College staff at the early childhood center found black mold growing in a storage closet in the basement near the kitchen. A leak allows rain to fall through a wall of the closet.

Cook Tony Rodriguez said some inventory had to be moved from the storage room to dry storage on the second floor.

Amelia Henderson, a Head Start pre-school teacher in the San Antonio Independent School District, said maintenance cleaned the mold and left some rags to soak up the rainwater.

Head Start rents a classroom in the building.

Power outages shut down the campus chillers, cutting off air conditioning to interior buildings on campus, including Loftin Student Center.

The Ranger newsroom in Room 212 of Loftin experienced a number of leaks and the sky was visible through a crack in the roof.

Loftin and the academic instruction center experienced condensation on floors in hallways and classrooms after several hours with no airflow, creating slippery conditions.

President Robert Zeigler said business Chair Val Calvert reported the situation to facilities at about 4:45 p.m., and they placed warning signs and mats in the center.

"As the air comes back on, the problem should start taking care of itself," Zeigler said.

Facilities will continue set out wet floor warning signs, he said.

"I was concerned, but it's on now and it's cooling off pretty quickly," he said.

Facilities superintendant David Ortega said the condensation was caused by a lack of cool air.

At about 4:40 p.m., Ortega said he couldn't estimate when the air would be back on because he wasn't sure when City Public Service could provide a stable supply of electricity.

He said every time the college staff tried to restart the central plant, the download was interrupted by another outage.

Cool air returned to some buildings by about 5:30 p.m.

The portable buildings, Oppenheimer Education and Training Center and Longwith on the edges of the main campus were unaffected by the central plant outage, he said.

The exterior buildings have air conditioning as long as the power remains on, he said.

Sgt. Ben Pena, of the district department of public safety, said officers are patrolling campuses.

"We had a lot of fire alarms go off," he said. "We got into emergency management mode and are monitoring weather, streets and all safety elements."

Leo Zuniga, associate vice chancellor of communications, said all campuses would remain open.

Zuniga said St. Philip's College classes at Lackland Air Force Base were cancelled because of an electricity outage.

"We've been informed by San Antonio weather system the worst of the storm has passed. All the classes at colleges are scheduled as planned," Zuniga said at about 5 p.m.

Erick Akins, dean of workforce development and continuing education at St. Philip's, said students had been informed through a collegewide list serve — known as SPCALL — which was sent from St. Philip's interim director of community and public relations, Jorge Ramirez.

Akins said that faculty, staff and students receive an e-mail through their alamo.edu accounts. However, an hour later Akins said he had not received an e-mail notice.

Akin dismissed concern that students would not check e-mail before heading to night classes.

"We encourage students to check their e-mails, especially in bad weather," Akins said.

The National Weather Service reported a strong chance of heavy rains and thunderstorms tonight with storms producing heavy rainfall.

The service reports a 30 percent chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms Wednesday and a slight chance of showers Thursday.

Zeigler said the college administration talked with district and campus police about students traveling to school during heavy rains.

He said students should always use good judgment, especially with flooding in the area, and they should not come into class if they believe it is not safe.

Zeigler said the college administration plans to e-mail faculty Wednesday morning asking them to be "understanding and flexible."

For more information in dangerous weather conditions, call the district's weather line at 485-0189.

Jacob Beltran, Rennie Murrell and Zahra Farah contributed to this report.