[PADG:230] FW: Bad news from the University of Hawaii

["Drewes, Jeanne" <drewes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jeanne Drewes
Assistant Director for Access & Preservation
Michigan State University Libraries
100 Library Room W-108A
East Lansing, MI 48824-1048

517 4326123 ext. 147  
NEW!!    FAX 517 353 8969
drewes@xxxxxxx
http://www.lib.msu.edu/drewes


HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) -- Heavy rain sent water as much as 8 feet deep
rushing through the University of Hawaii's main research library,
destroying irreplaceable documents and books, toppling doors and walls and
forcing a few students to break a window to escape.

Ten inches of rain fell in 24 hours starting Saturday morning in the Manoa
Valley near Waikiki. Several cars were carried downstream when Manoa
Stream overflowed its banks, and a school and church that were supposed to
serve as polling places for Tuesday's election also were damaged.

Gov. Linda Lingle toured the university Sunday and declared Manoa Valley a
state disaster area.

The library's ground floor was a jumble, with walls knocked down and
furniture piled up, said librarian Diane Perushek. The water also left
several inches of mud.

"Our lowest level of the library, the ground floor, is decimated,"
Perushek said. "We're seeing what we can retrieve now."

Several people attending a small class on the ground floor Saturday night
had to knock out a window to escape the flash flood, Perushek said. No one
was hurt.

About three dozen university buildings, including dormitories, lost power
and Monday's classes were canceled.

The damaged items contained mostly maps, some 90,000 aerial photographs, a
government document collection and about 100,000 new books that had not
been catalogued, she said.

Two refrigerated trucks were brought to campus Sunday to help salvage the
soaked documents.

"We've already started putting materials in there to freeze dry them,"
Perushek said.