Correction Appended
After being evacuated from his Hassayampa dorm room two weeks ago, Ryan Minarik was welcomed back Saturday with the theft of about $850 worth of personal items.
Minarik, an undeclared freshman, was evacuated with all residents of Hassayampa G and F buildings at 1 a.m. Jan. 31.
A damaged sprinkler head on the fourth floor of the G building triggered the fire alarms in both buildings and set off the sprinkler system, said Susan Walker, Residential Life spokeswoman.
The activated sprinkler system resulted in a rush of water up to three inches deep flooding the G building.
As of Feb. 9, all students were allowed back.
Zachary Zettle, a kinesiology freshman, said the flood happened right outside his room.
"[My roommate] opened the door, and water shot him in the face," he said in an e-mail. "I woke up and smelled some sort of nasty smelling odor but, after I saw the water, I threw as much of my stuff up on my bed and got out of my room."
G building residents were told their rooms, many of which had several inches of standing water, were unfit to live in until repairs could be made.
Students were offered rooms in other dorms including Ocotillo, Manzanita and Palo Verde.
Minarik was sent to Ocotillo, which he said was dark and unpleasant.
"It was disgusting," said Minarik. "It was like a jail cell."
The California native chose to leave the provided dorm and stay in a hotel with his parents, who were visiting for the Super Bowl.
Rekia Richmond, an undeclared freshman, also opted to give up her room in Ocotillo.
"It really sucked, even though I had a single room," she said. "I went to go stay with my sister."
Walker said many students decided to stay with friends and that students were allowed back to their rooms in stages as repairs were made.
Ryan Moore, a film and media production freshman, was able to move in by Feb. 2.
"My room quickly became a refugee camp," he said. "One night there were six people staying in my room."
Students were escorted to retrieve personal items at any time during the restoration process. Residential Life also set up security in the halls, said Walker.
Moore said he is not impressed with Residential Life's security.
"Now that everyone is back in their rooms, stories are getting out about stolen stuff," Moore said. "My friends have had movies, iPods and even a TV stolen during the time when they weren't allowed to live in their rooms."
Minarik said that, while staying with a friend on the third floor, he saw his room propped open with no workers in sight. He said he believes this is when his television, two skateboards and his suitemate's PlayStation — together worth $850 — were stolen.
"They said [the area] was supposedly secure, but that's definitely not true," he added. "I went and talked to ResLife and they said they couldn't do anything."
Minarik filed a police report and, even though the police were helpful, he doesn't have high hopes of getting his things back.
"As of now, I don't know if I'm going to get reimbursed," he said. "I don't think the police can do very much."
Walker said she hadn't seen any reports of theft and, as a result, couldn't comment.
Students were able to fill out reports for water-damaged items, and the ASU bookstore will work with students whose textbooks were damaged, Walker said. Residential Life also took care of laundry that was soiled in the flood, she added.
How the sprinkler head was broken and by whom is still under investigation, but is believed to have been an "isolated act," Walker said.
"There is no flaw in the sprinkler system, nor any resulting structural damage to the building," Walker said in an e-mail.
Correction: Resident Ryan Minarik was out of his room for nine days as a result of the flood, and as of Thursday, it had been two weeks since he was evacuated.
Reach the reporter at indra.ekmanis@asu.edu.
