Hensill and Thornton halls were two of the hardest hit buildings affected by the storm on Feb. 25 that led to the cancellation of classes.

Runoff from 19th Avenue rushed through doors flooding classrooms and offices and even breaking into a sterile cryogenic device lab.

At Hensill Hall professors tried to clean up water by flashlight.

“At one point I was knee deep in water,” said Mark Ciotola as he pointed to the watermark on his khaki pants.

Ciotola, a professor in the physics and design and industry departments, went to Thornton Hall to help clean up the physics department offices.

Around this time he witnessed a waterfall crashing down from 19 Avenue onto the old softball field.

The force of the water eroded away the soil, leaving an exposed water main without any form of support. Police and officials evacuated the area in fear that the main would burst.

The waterfall also caused a mudslide that left some construction equipment being used to renovate and earthquake-safe Hensill Hall partially buried.

Ciotola described a raging river that made an island out of the portables now housing Hensill Hall departments displaced by renovation.

Meanwhile in the basement of Thornton Hall, the flooding penetrated some of the most delicate, controlled atmospheres.

The cryogenic device-testing center, also known as the “Icy IC lab,” is normally a highly regulated, sterile environment, requiring “bunny suits” and forbidding such things as exposed shoes, hair or clothes.

“Everything is monitored, even tiny air particles,” said Jeff Haas, a student researcher who works with superconducting devices.

Lab technicians scrambled to mop up standing water and restore the lab to its original sterile state after it was flooded with water dripping from the ceiling.

Power returned to the building a little after 11 a.m.

Scientists scrambled to clean up pieces of the fallen ceiling and protect their valuable equipment, from lasers to X-rays, covering them with plastic to fend off the water still dripping from above.

Meanwhile, Karen Carrington stood next to a dry erase board in the dark, powerless Cesar Chavez Student Center, surrounded by inquiring students eager to get confirmation that their classes are indeed canceled.

“All classes are canceled for the whole day,” said Carrington, the accounting supervisor for the Student Center, relaying information she received from the public affairs office, public safety office and the president’s office.

“Some of the buildings have lost power, been flooded and evacuated. It would not be fair to ask students to stick around and wait for their classes in the buildings that are open,” Carrington added.