BC’s Panorama campus experienced flooding and leaking last week due to several days of substantial rain in Bakersfield.

An office in the FACE building was affected by this flooding, said Stephanie Baltazar, the Program Director of Career Education and Student Employment. FACE 16 experienced leaking that damaged a particle board desk, which had to be removed.

Roman Puga and Caroline Walth from Maintenance and Operations were quick to help with the damage, said Baltazar. Fans and humidifiers were brought in to draw out the moisture.

The water also tripped the breaker, Baltzar said, and they lost power. Their onsite electrician, Martin Ramirez, was able to set up a generator to get power back to the office building though.

The Grace Van Dyke Bird Library also experienced “extensive” water damage, said the library department chair, Faith Bradham.

The leaks were discovered on Saturday, after librarian Brenda Scobey and library assistant Sarah Aguirre came into work. Bradham was notified of the problem, and after talking to the Dean, M&O was in the library addressing the problem.

“This is a problem we’ve been having for years,” Bradham said. Although she said this is the worst it’s ever gotten.

Ceiling tiles were falling off, trash cans were filled with water, and leaks above bookshelves were threatening books, after which Bradham got to the library to help move books. Thankfully, said Bradham, no books were damaged.

The library is continuing to experience leaking, so areas of the library are still taped off. But Bradham is working with the Dean to get the library’s roof fixed so that in the future, books don’t get damaged, and students don’t get hit with falling ceiling tiles.