Editor's note: During June 2008, the University of Iowa sustained the worst natural disaster in its history when severe flooding sent the Iowa River over its banks and into the campus and Iowa City communities. As the UI celebrates near completion of its flood recovery efforts this fall, Iowa Now looks back at that challenging time when thousands of faculty, staff, students, and volunteers joined forces to ensure the UI remained open for business. This is just one of many inspiring stories.
George Stumpf’s mission during the flood of 2008 was simple: Keep the university’s fiber optic network operating.
The challenges were many, and daunting. Information Technology Services had to evacuate major office facilities and network hubs in North Hall, the Iowa Memorial Union, the Museum of Art, and Lindquist Center on short notice as the water rose.
The flood of 2008 affected more than 2.5 million square feet of building space at the University of Iowa (the equivalent of one-sixth of the campus), forced the evacuation and closing of 20 buildings, and resulted in $743 million in damage and recovery costs.
This fall marks completion of three major construction projects affiliated with recovery efforts—the Art Building replacement, Voxman Music Building, and Hancher Auditorium. The UI Museum of Art replacement is the final flood recovery project. Officials hope that building will open in 2019.
In addition, troubles at the UI Power Plant were reducing the supply of electricity to campus. Would there be enough generators to supply the power to keep the main network hub alive at Lindquist?
It had to be done. During the largest crisis in the UI’s history, maintaining a dependable communications link was critical. How else would officials tell students or faculty to evacuate their buildings? Or notify a student off campus that their summer program was canceled?
Stumpf, director of ITS physical infrastructure, met daily with Chief Information Officer Steve Fleagle and ITS leadership teams to prioritize the several pages of tasks that had to be performed. They consolidated operations in University Capitol Centre and had 12 hours to vacate the Lindquist Center, starting at 2:30 a.m. June 15, because water from the utility tunnel network was coming up through the floor. Workers also had to carry equipment up the stairs when the elevator shaft flooded. (They moved the network hub to Phillips Hall.) They set up a work-around fiber line from Levitt Center to the Chemistry Building when the Museum of Art network hub was completely submerged.
Every few hours brought a fresh set of crises to be managed. But Stumpf says ITS never panicked.
“Everyone was calm, cool, and collected in those meetings, and we did what we had to do,” he says.
They succeeded. The campus network never went down—not even for a second—and the university was able to keep vital communications flowing. Stumpf says he can’t remember when he stopped to take a breath.
“I’m sure there was a point where I stopped for a minute, but I don’t remember it,” he says. “Some days you slept well, some days you didn’t.”
When the water receded, staff spent the next several weeks, months, and years in recovery mode. They put back together everything they had taken apart, fixed what was wrecked, and reinforced facilities so they would be protected should another flood occur.
Stumpf attributes the success to a strong team from top to bottom.
“We have a really good staff here, a talented staff I knew would do what we needed to do, and (we) received strong leadership from Steve Fleagle and President Sally Mason, who did an excellent job of planning and setting priorities.”
Eight years after the flood, the University of Iowa will celebrate the grand opening of the new Hancher Auditorium on Friday, Sept. 9; the grand opening of the new Visual Arts Building on Friday, Oct. 7; and the grand opening of the Voxman Music Building on Friday, Oct. 21. For details about the events, visit inspire.uiowa.edu.