Students whose apartments were affected by the flood in August were allowed to move back in two weeks ago. It took until Oct. 29 to complete the renovations on the apartments, which suffered from water damage.

“[The renovations] went extremely well,” said Susan Lammers, manager of community services of Schilletter and University Village. “Our folks did a good job.” 

Fourty-seven students from 27 affected apartments were displaced after the flooding that occurred Aug. 11. Apart from structural damage, the apartments also had to have appliances like refrigerators and furnaces replaced, said Wesley Phillips, senior in forestry.

Phillips was one of the luckier residents, as he was out of town during the flooding, and he had placed his furniture upstairs after a friend had warned him of possible flooding.

“It was amazing how much water there was,” said Lindsay Moss-Taylor, senior in biology. “It went from a cute little creek to this giant ocean.”

Moss-Taylor was also lucky, as she hadn’t yet moved in to her SUV apartment when the floodwaters hit Ames. For the first week she was displaced, she was able to stay with her relatives until she moved into guest housing at Schilletter Village.

As the rain continued to pour through the morning of Aug. 11, Alex Spicher, junior in material science engineering, woke up early to do what he could to salvage his belongings.

“It kind of sucked getting up at 4 a.m. to move everything upstairs,” Spicher said. 

The students who chose to move back into their apartments were happy with the renovations that were done, but not all chose to take advantage of the newly remodeled housing. 

“Some students chose not to move back in because they were graduating, but majority of the students did [move back in],” Lammers said.

The students who returned to their apartments moved in during Homecoming week. Students like Logan Taft, junior in political science, found their new housing was done nicely.

“It was like a real homecoming, we just like having them back,” Lammers said.