Hundreds of vehicles remained stuck inside a pair of UCLA parking garages that were flooded by a massive water break, and UCLA officials said today it could take until at least Friday until owners will be able to retrieve them.
Jack Powazek, UCLA’s associate vice chancellor for general services, said crews need to drain the water out of the garages first so they can restore power, “because the electrical equipment is under water.”
Powazek said it was unclear how long the work would take, but it would likely be at least two days until the vehicles can be towed out.
According to Kelly Schmader, assistant vice chancellor for facilities management, parking structures 4 and 7 each have two subterranean levels, and the lowest level in both was “completely submerged.” As of midday, about four feet of water remained on the second underground level of structure 4, and about three feet on the same level in structure 7.
“We’ve made significant progress here,” he said. “We’ve already … eliminated enough water so that we get our student health center back on line … and we’re about four inches away from having our electrical vault, which is down that ramp (of structure 4), pumped out of water as well, and that’s what is the key to getting electricity restored to the Wooden Center.”
All of the vehicles in the garages will eventually be towed out, officials said.
Schmader said earlier there were 739 vehicles stuck in the garages, and nearly half of those were completely submerged.
