Monmouth U. slammed by storm repair costs

By carolyn o

By carolyn o’connell
Staff Writer

WEST LONG BRANCH — Officials at Monmouth University are estimating the dollar damage from the Aug. 2 storm to be in the hundreds of thousands, and the numbers continue to rise.

Last week, John "Fazz" Zambrano, associate vice president for facilities management, estimated that damages would cost the university $500,000, with $100,000 worth of work in tree cleanup alone.

New figures which gradually came in over the past week are looking closer to between $1 million and $1.5 million, according to Frank DiRocco Jr., a Monmouth University spokesman.

On the question of receiving outside funding, DiRocco said, "I don’t know if we are getting any funding yet; it is just to early to tell. We are still cleaning up the damage."

Originally, Zambrano had not believed the report he received of the extensive damage.

"When my boss called me in Lake George," said Zambrano, "I thought, ‘How bad can it be? We did the whole ’92 storm.’ "

But when Zambrano returned home and made his way back to the university, what he saw astonished him.

"When I turned onto Cedar Avenue and saw the library, I knew then that it was much worse than the ’92 storm," said Zambrano. "You could see right through the library to the dorms because the trees were all down."

Because of the extensive damage, the university was shut down. It reopened to personnel five days later.

The major hits of the storm came to Willow Hall, located off of Cedar Avenue. The dormitory was being occupied by approximately 20 students who were enrolled in summer classes.

"There had to have been a tornado," said Zambrano. "The entire roof of the building was ripped off and was found on the ground next to the building."

The inside of Wilson Hall sustained major damage from the unrelenting rain, which destroyed the walls, furniture and carpeting.

None of the students living there at the time of the storm were injured, said Zambrano.

Next in line on the damage list is the Garden Apartment dormitory, where a tree 3 feet in diameter fell on the roof, leaving a gaping hole. The damage there was confined to two apartments, which sustained major water damage.

The dormitory was vacant prior to the storm, noted Zambrano, because a sprinkler system was being installed.

The wrath of the storm did not stop there. The rains flooded the first floor of Howard Hall and the facilities management office. The 2 feet of water caused extensive damage.

The damage was to every area of the university, including the library, the athletic fields, the dorms and the two farms. The wind knocked down the football goal post, the baseball field fence and the fence around the garbage facilities building.

Zambrano said he estimates that the wind knocked down close to 100 trees.

"The facilities management personnel are doing such a great job and working around the clock," said Zambrano. "The university will be open by Sept. 1."