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Monique Headley
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34 buildings damaged at OSU
Oklahoma State University incurred damage to 34 buildings in Friday morning’s storm, said Adrian Self, Oklahoma State University director of operations and maintenance.
“We received about 200 calls and incident reports as a result of the storm,” he said. “We sent out teams to assess, identify, report and secure areas of damage and to prevent any further damage.”
Damage ranged from car dings and broken windshields to broken windows in buildings.
Self said he was unaware of any reports of personal injury.
With fewer people on campus, Self said, he expects additional damage to be reported.
“I don’t think we’ve identified all the damage yet,” he said. “Most of the issues currently reported are related to broken windows and glass with some roof issues reported. We have several research greenhouses that have glass panels on the roof and sides. Several had significant roof damage to the double-pane roof glass.”
As a result, the interior research environment was compromised, he said.
“We had to plug the holes immediately,” he said. “We have secured the broken glass in these and other areas to ensure safety and are working to secure vendors to replace the glass.
“The glass is designed to sustain a certain amount of wind load. The insulated glass roof panels were penetrated by softball-sized hail. It is rare for hail size of such significance.”
In previous storms with golf ball-sized hail, no such damage had occurred, he added.
Damage assessment is ongoing, said OSU Communications Specialist Dottie Witter.
As some of the destroyed glass is energy efficient or consists of large panes, it will take time to put together all the numbers related to storm damage, said Self.
“We do not yet have an estimate of the time it will take to repair or the cost associated,” he said.
OSU Director of Risk Management Mike Bale said, “We don’t have a clue yet as to the extent of the damage.”
However, he said all buildings are insured through the State Risk Manager’s Office. According to Bale, for insurance to apply, the university must first incur $500,000 in damage.
Before the application of insurance, he said, “we have a self funded reserve in case there is a loss to take care of it.”
According to Bale, the first $50,000 comes from the corresponding departmental budget.
“From there, the OSU reserve pays, then the state. It is a multi-layered system,” he said.
In the event of a claim among multiple departments, he said, the departments are able to pool reserves. Loss estimates of conglomerated figures are anticipated by next week, he said.
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