MUNCIE, INDIANA—Like most Ball State students, Sofia Ruiz left her home in Muncie to be with her family over winter break but when she returned she had a surprise waiting for her.

“Our kitchen was flooded, the ceiling had fallen, there was water coming out of the ceiling. It was just a mess,” Ruiz said.

Before they left for the holidays, she and her roommates turned off the heat in their home thinking it would save them money; instead it cost them their kitchen. 

And now over a month later she is still without a place to live.

“My roommates live close so they moved home and have been commuting but I’ve been staying with friends in Muncie,” Ruiz said.

And she isn’t the only one. 

Several Ball State students are still without places to live after the big freeze that occurred back in December. 

Sophomore Ivy Nugent was forced to move out of her apartment in the Village Promenade after a pipe burst in the apartment complex.

“When we put together an itemized list it was about $15,000 worth of damage to our property,” Nugent said.

Like Ruiz, Nugent is still without a place to live so she’s been commuting an hour every day from her home in Carmel but she’s eager to return to Muncie.

“I’m all packed up. I have everything packed still besides my essential things. So hopefully I’m back within the next week I’m back but I don’t know,” Nugent said.

Both of these incidents were caused by the winter storm we had in December. Pipes in both Ruiz’s home and Nugent’s apartment froze during the cold temperatures and then expanded when the weather warmed back up, causing them to burst and flood the homes.

“It’s something that happened and I can’t change it. I wish I could go back and fix everything,” Ruiz said.

Local plumbers suggest that the best way to prevent frozen pipes and water damage during the winter is to leave faucets dripping, open cabinets beneath sinks, and most importantly: leave your heat on.

Contact Madeline Kerr with comments at makerr@bsu.edu

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