Students heading to the John P. Raynor, S.J. Library on Sunday night might have needed a raincoat.

As a result of Sunday's bad weather and thunderstorms, students at the library found themselves studying next to the sound of water dripping into buckets.

"We believe the dripping was caused by water accumulated in the northwest tower" of the library, said Michael Pate, associate director of libraries. "The tower is open on top. Two down drains were stuffed up, the water overflowed and came through the ceiling and down walls in the corner of the building."

Water was first noticed on Sunday night around 9 p.m. Within an hour buckets and plastic tarps were placed on the floor to catch the water.

"The difficult thing about placing buckets was that the water was dripping from different locations of the ceiling," Pate said.

The water dripped from the Tommy Thompson Seminar Room on the third floor all the way down to the basement. Ceiling tiles, walls, wood and carpet floors have been damaged. Paint has bubbled and drywall has ripped apart. No dollar amount could be attached to the damage, however.

"It is still too early to tell how much money it will cost to fix the damage," Pate said.

The northwest corner of the library is home to many pieces of electronic equipment, but none of it was damaged. Classroom 227 has a hollow floor and it is believed that some electrical boxes got wet, but not damaged, Pate said.

The library has been working with Facilities Services to clean up the water.

"We have been actively cleaning the walls and carpets," said Jerry Kohn, assistant director of Facilities Services.

"Most of the damage was drywall and ceiling tiles," Kohn said.

On Monday night, students studied amid the staccato of water dripping into buckets, but on the whole didn't seem too bothered by the noise or mess.

"It was kind of annoying when the guys set up the buckets," said Patrick Stewart, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences.

"It's not really distracting, but kind of disturbing. This place should be brand new," said Austin Guenther, a junior in the College of Engineering.

"Kind of surprising — I knew that it was flooded, but I didn't realize to what extent," said Lyndsie Schwanebeck, a junior in the College of Communication.

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, water was not seen but was still heard in the roof of the north tower, Pate said. Utility services is monitoring the situation. All services with the exception of classroom 227 are back in service today, according to Pate, and the classes that are held in room 227 have been rescheduled to other rooms.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 29, 2005.