By Students and faculty at Cal State Long Beach struggled to get to campus, find parking and arrive to classes on time due to the storm on Feb. 1.
CSULB walk to their classes in the heavy rain on Thursday afternoon. The rainfall caused an entrance of an employee parking lot to flood by the LifeFit Center as well as deep puddles that made it difficult for students to get around. Photo credit: Naoki Gima
According to the CSULB parking Instagram, the flooding forced closures to employee lots E3, E4, the LifeFit parking area and the road leading to them.
According to Parking and Transportation Services Director Gene Wohlgezogen, a deluge from an overflow in the creek occurred near the employee lots. Employees were directed to avoid these two lots and park in lots E1, E2 and E6.
“Lots E3 and E4 are approximately two feet underwater,” said Wohlgezogen.
During the interview with Wohlgezogen, around 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, he was notified of the employee lots reopening.
A campus golf cart drives over a flooded part of the road at CSULB by parking lots E3 and E4 by the LifeFit Center. Photo credit: Naoki Gima
During the storm, damage also impacted multiple EV chargers on campus.
Wohlgezogen explained that the storm damaged multiple EV chargers on campus in lots R2, G7 and E8.
Due to the level of damage to the R2 EV charger, Parking and Transportation must submit a work order to Beach Building Services (BBS) repairs. Wohlgezogen is unsure when the charger will be repaired.
“I appreciate the teamwork from BBS,” Wohlgezogen said. “They’re dealing with a lot due to the storm and they’re working to keep everyone safe.”
Flooding was also observed in the Walter Pyramid, leading to the relocation of the women’s basketball game to the Gold Mine.
According to the National Weather Service, roadway flooding was also reported this morning on the 710 and 110 freeways, impacting commuting students and faculty on their way to campus.
“While the rain will be quite heavy at times, due to the shorter duration of the event, impacts are expected to be relatively minor with mainly typical roadway ponding of water and slick driving conditions and flood advisories should be sufficient to handle this event,” according to the NWS. “However, with a 10% to 20% chance of thunderstorms, rain rates in very localized areas could be high enough to require a flash flood warning.”
Rain is expected to continue throughout this week and next.
