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The water that flooded several cars Thursday at Radford University has receded.
Students are allowed to go to their cars, but they have to get a pass from police. School officials are waiting for insurance assessors to come.
The school plans to put a fence around the lot so the cars can’t be tampered with.
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Original story from Thursday
Thursday’s flooding in the New River Valley caused big issues with some students at Radford University.
They say the school is at fault for their flooded cars.
Some students walked to Parking Lot Z near the Dedmon Center at Radford University in the wee hours of Wednesday night to move their cars.
Others didn't, but certainly wished they had.
And now not only are they blaming themselves, but the university as well.
Cody Sullivan is upset with himself.
On one hand, he should have seen this coming: the possibility that if he didn't move his pickup truck it might be under water.
“I'm kind of mad but it's my fault too. I didn't move it,” Sullivan said. “They said to move your car. I got an email around 5:30 this morning that said to move your cars because it was probably going to be flooded.”
Some students, like sophomore River Allen, didn't take any chances knowing Lot Z was right in a flood plain.
“I moved it up to Main Street and I woke up this morning and this had happened, so I was very thankful for that,” Allen said.
The university claims it let students know about the potential for flooding beginning at 10 p.m. Wednesday night by word of mouth through resident hall advisors. But students we spoke to say they never got those warnings.
There was no campus-wide notification; no email, text, or Facebook notification until that call and email blast at 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
“We ask people to take the messages they do receive in person by intercom, by phone, by email and text, seriously and respond accordingly,” a Radford University spokesperson said. “We hope to distribute the messages in a timely and proactive manner.”
Unfortunately, that's no consolation to the owners of the flooded cars, some who say the university wasn't timely enough.
Here is the news release from the school about the situation:
Water from the rapidly rising New River swept over a parking lot at Radford University in predawn hours Thursday, flooding about 100 vehicles.
Responding to weather alerts late Wednesday about the potential for flooding in the area, the university began notifying residence hall students at 10 p.m. to move any vehicles parked in Lot Z between the Dedmon Center sports complex and the river. The lot is designated for parking by resident students. Resident directors and assistants used the buildings' public address systems and went door to door to advise students of the situation, and continued to do so through the night.
At 11 p.m. the river at Radford was about 4 feet above its normal level. The university's policy is to take action when rising waters reach 12 feet above normal. At 12:30 a.m. today, Claytor Lake dam made a release of water into the river. At 3:30 a.m. the river at Radford began to flood rapidly, rising more than 9 feet in less than an hour.
At 5:15 a.m., as the rising water reached Lot Z, the university sent out a campus-wide alert urging the removal of vehicles. Due to the possibility of flooding at a second lot, the university sent a campus-wide alert at 7:30 a.m. advising that vehicles also be removed from Lot FF.
Owners of flooded vehicles should contact their insurers to file claims. The university will provide documentation to verify that the flooding occurred. For more information, call (540) 831-2100.