On Feb. 1, 2026, residents of the Camphor and Hartzell residential halls awoke to an unpleasant surprise.
It was 9:42 a.m. on Sunday morning when sophomore health science major, Shaloni Walker, woke up to water rushing into her room in Hartzell Hall, she said. She immediately called for help.
“I remember texting the group meet and being like, ‘emergency’. I sent my room number and then I sent a picture of the floor because all the water had just like flooded in and it was everywhere,” said Walker.
Morgan Barnett’s room in Hartzell also flooded.
“The water goes on for five minutes. It’s not leaking in my room yet, so I step outside, and in the hallway, you can see the water coming toward my room,” Barnett, a sophomore nursing major, recalled of the morning of the flooding.
The next thing she knew, Barnett and her roommate were being asked to move. Barnett ended up in Williams Hall, while her roommate landed on Camphor’s second floor, she said.
The leaks were coming from the ceilings of the first and second floors, said Walker. Resident assistants quickly responded, contacting emergency maintenance and beginning to evacuate affected residents, she said.
One of the resident assistants, Alana Gray, a junior nursing student from Hayes, La, said her team scrambled to move residents out safely while also contacting more help.
“I just see a video with the sky falling out. When I tell you I’ve never seen that much water in my life,” said one of the resident assistants, Alana Gray, a junior nursing student from Hayes, La.
Gray and her team scrambled to move residents out safely while also contacting more help, she said.
“I say the response time was like 15 minutes,” said Barnett. “But then, once they did respond, it’s like they didn’t know what to do.”
The Sunday morning emergency meant that most staff were off campus at the time.
“I was calling Courtney Smith, my boss, to let him know we need emergency maintenance right now. He’s gonna tell me he’s on the way to church,” said Gray. “I’m a big believer of God, but I’m sorry we have a job to do. Somebody’s dorm is underwater.”
Four rooms in total were evacuated the day of the flooding. The dorm hall still has missing ceiling tiles and exposed wiring where the water once fell through.
This isn’t the first time the building has had this type of emergency. On Jan. 22, 2025, rooms in Camphor and Hartzell flooded due to a burst pipe caused by the cold weather.
No further information was released about the cause of the leak or how the situation was resolved. Residents are awaiting updates as well.
[Content pulled from Bleu Media Network News package by Laylah Green]
