The sudden increase of rain in Colorado has caused numerous problems for students and staff at Fort Lewis College and University of Colorado Boulder.

Sophomore Andrew Hunley is a tenant in the Centennial Apartments at Fort Lewis College, living on the lowest level of the building.

His apartment began flooding on Sept. 12  and continued to flood twice after that. Two of Hunley’s roommates went to talk to the Assistant Director of Housing.

“It was mainly just letting them know it had flooded,” Hunley said. ”We asked if there could be some financial compensation.”

Hunley missed two classes trying to clean up the aftermath from the rain, which consisted of standing puddles in both the bedrooms and one in the living room corner. He had to stay when the cleaning crew came to clean up the mess.

The Assistant Director of Housing gave them two options.

They said that we could split up and move to the Bader Snyder complexes or accept financial compensation for the damage caused, he said.

“We keep everything off the ground, so when it floods, it doesn’t touch anything,”Hunley said.

He and his roommates have been compensated $300 for both semesters after the incident.

Other parts of campus have also been impacted by the increase of rain. Bob Smith,the director of physical plant services, is in charge of making sure the campus is maintained.

With a staff of about 50 employees, the physical plant responds to work requests and various maintenance needs, Smith said.

To help with storm drainage, PPS closed the front hill.

After the recent rains, PPS is having to consider the drainage issues around campus, learning what can be done to prevent damage in the future.

Besides the apartments, the Aquatic Center on campus also took a bit of a swim.

“Rain water came in through the west doors and it didn’t flood the entire building, just a portion of the corridors,” he said.

However, the rainfall in Durango has been minimal compared to the amount Boulder has received.

Sophomore Hunter Meachum, a student at the University of Colorado Boulder, actually lives in the University District, and was surprised when she received a text message from the school informing students that class had been cancelled.

I was caught off guard when I get the text. It had been raining really hard, but I didn’t think it was bad enough to cancel classes, she said.

Meachum lives in an apartment on the second floor.

“Our basement flooded, and I haven’t had hot water since last Thursday,” she said.

I stayed inside during the flooding, wary of the warnings and sirens, not wanting to risk it, Meachum said.

Another student at the University of Colorado Boulder had somewhat of a different experience from the flooding.

Freshman Nate Quinn thought having the day off from classes would be a good time, until he realized his dorm room was quickly accumulating water.

“I was at lunch when my roommate called,” Quinn said. “He said a couple of our ceiling panels had fallen off.”

Quinn returned to his dorm to find water coming through the ceiling.

With classes being canceled, Quinn was eager to have the opportunity to sleep in and enjoy time out of class, but with water damage to his dorm and to his property, the fun had all but gone, he said.