RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (KTHV) – When heavy rains hit the state, students at Arkansas Tech aren’t surprised when it floods. In fact, they refer to campus as “Lake Tech.”
“Whenever I came and toured the campus that was the first thing they said was make sure you have a rain jacket and boots,” said student Patrick Kamerling.
Student Jacob Harper’s main concern isn't walking to class, but the cars in the parking lots.
“Any day it's been consecutively raining you can go to any of these gravel parking lots and you'll generally see that their full of water.”
Harper said that parked cars have been totaled and flooded, and students say they shouldn’t have to deal with those repairs.
When it came to opinions on closing school for flooding, many of the students were for it except for student Hunter Cowell who believes there are ways around the water by building raised sidewalks.
Sam Strassner, Director of University Relations, says flooding has always been a problem on Tech campus but he says the school does what they can to prepare students, giving them warning in advance.
“We put out a message to our students to make sure to be careful and park with caution.”
Officials say the school has been working on the flooding problem by digging out ditches for drainage, but the area still continues to flood.