Water damage from the “polar vortex” remains in the basement of Little Horseshoe on Waterman Boulevard.

Six residential buildings and 14 academic buildings suffered damage as a result of the low temperatures and heavy snowfall over break, with issues ranging from a broken window to flooding.

Among the hardest-hit buildings were Busch Hall, which experienced water damage to its main auditorium, and Dardick House, where a burst water line caused flooding in the offices of Student Health Services.

Drainage pipes on older buildings froze, leaving snowfall on the roofs trapped as it melted, which caused water damage to the buildings. A common issue with newer buildings, meanwhile, was sprinkler pipes freezing and bursting, Director of Maintenance Operations Bill Wiley said.

Tim Lempfert, director of housing operations, said Residential Life offered alternate housing to students staying in affected buildings over break, but only a few students chose to take advantage of it.

Many but not all of the issues were not resolved by the time students returned to campus, leaving classes in Busch Hall temporarily displaced.

There was a delayed reaction to some of the problems simply because Maintenance Operations was not aware of them until pipes began to burst or water damage occurred, Wiley said.

Lempfert said that he expects ongoing repairs on the Dardick lobby flooring to be completed next week, but students living in the building should not be inconvenienced by the repair work.

Freshman Natalie Johnson, who lives on the first floor of Dardick, said she hadn’t experienced any problems as a result of the work on the flooring.

“When we got back, they were basically drying out the whole floor, and [Wednesday] they just started tearing up the floors.” Johnson said. “This stuff happens…you kind of have to walk around [the repairs] a little bit, but it’s not a big inconvenience.”

Wiley said that the University is looking into ways to avoid future weather-related problems.

The problems in new buildings “are issues that, in our opinion, just became noticeable for the first time,” Wiley said. “Maybe these sprinkler pipes shouldn’t have been exposed without a heating source or insulation…We’re looking at this on a case-by-case basis to see if there’s something we can do to make these areas less likely to have similar outcomes in cold temperatures.”