Floorboards from the water-damaged court inside UCLA's historic Pauley Pavilion have been removed as work to have the building ready for the start of basketball season continued on a campus transformed by last week's water main break and flood.
Repairs to the court, which buckled and expanded under about 8 inches of water, are among several ongoing projects on the Westwood campus. Carpet was stripped from flooded buildings, flood-damaged vehicles were removed from parking garages and landscaping projects are underway after about 20 million gallons of water gushed from the pipe July 29 under Sunset Boulevard.
"We hired a few contract firms to speed the remediation effort, and we had our own men and women in blue-and-white shirts working shoulder to shoulder with those contractors remediating damaged areas," Schmader said. "Now we're getting back to normal and moving into the restoration phase."
Athletic department officials plan to have the court ready by late October -- the start of the college basketball season. A photo released Wednesday by UCLA showed wooden court floorboards piled inside Pauley Pavilion, just two years after the arena underwent a multi-million dollar renovation.
[[270100661, C]] The arena opened 49 years ago and is home to many of UCLA's athletic teams, including the men's and women's basketball teams, men's and women's volleyball teams and women's gymnastics. The arena's two-year, $136-million renovation was completed in November 2012.
After water gushed up to rates of 75,000 per minute July 29, the court was left under ankle-deep water. Crews siphoned off most of the water a day later and used blower machines to dry the court, but it soon became apparent the damage would require its removal.
Water also entered Wooden Center, which houses recreation facilities, and the J.D. Morgan Center, which houses athletic staff and administration offices and UCLA's Athletic Hall of Fame. The Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center "has largely reopened," but repairs are ongoing in the basement, school officials said Wednesday.
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Drake Stadium's new running track did not appear damaged, according to UCLA officials. Marshall Field will reopen after crews place new sod.
Parking structures 4 and 7 were drained and cleared of debris and nearly 1,000 vehicles that were stranded -- some for nearly a week. Most of the vehicles were claimed and retrieved by owners, others were declared total losses.
The parking structures were deemed safe by engineers, Schmader added. Crews are still removing dirt and other debris that flowed into the parking areas that remain closed. Pressure from flood waters pushed stairwell doors off hinges and dislodged elevators doors in some parking structures.
The break occurred at the Y-shaped meeting point of a 30-inch pipe installed in 1921 and a 36-inch pipe installed in 1956. Both pipes ruptured and blew open a 20-foot wide, 10-foot deep sinkhole in the 10600 block of West Sunset Boulevard, officials said.
A cost estimate for repairs was not immediately available.
