On Friday, August 26th, Kansas City was hit with nearly 7 inches of rainfall in less than two hours. The heavy rainfall caused wastewater to enter the bottom units of the new Rock Row student housing buildings, damaging all eight units and the personal belongings of the student residents.

The Rock Row consists of two buildings with four units in each building. The bungalow-style housing holds 32 student residents and opened in August of this year.

“Our area of the city contains an older style “combined” sewer system, which are designed to collect rainwater runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater all in the same pipe,” Matt Heinrich, Associate VP for Facilities & Technology said in an email sent to Rockhurst students. “The damage was a result of the city system’s capacity being exceeded,” Heinrich said.

Carpet has been stripped, repairs are underway, but many students lost personal items because of the water damage.

“I lost a lot of socks,” Sarah Czirr ’17 said with a laugh, “but I also lost some stuff I got in Africa. Stuff that can’t be replaced.

The damage was severe enough that all Rock Row residents were forced to move out temporarily. “We can move back to Rock Row in 3-5 weeks, but for now we are all living in XL,” Czirr said.

In the midst of chaos, the Rockhurst staff have worked hard to ensure communication is constant and current.

“Rockhurst has communicated with us at least every other day,” Czirr said, “Matthew Quick helped me when I lost some very personal items.”

The Rock Row repairs are ongoing. Check RUsentinel.com for further updates.