Campus closed Friday due to Rain

“It’s a snow day,” said Superintendent President Mark Rocha in an email sent out to PCC faculty and staff on Friday morning.

A public service announcement was made also sent out, warning of flash floods in Azusa, Monrovia, and Glendora residents. Hours later PCC closed its main campus along with the Rosemead campus and Community Education Center.

Students, both happy and confused, were asked to empty out buildings.

“We basically closed down campus to err out the side of caution,” said Interim Director of Public Relations Valerie Wardlaw. “We’ve been listening to the weather forecast so we don’t want to have our students have to travel back and fourth, [so] we’re locking the doors [and] turning off the lights.”

All of Friday’s sports events were postponed, including the playoff rounds for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, which took place on Saturday evening. Both teams ended up successful in their competitions against Saddleback College and Canyon.

“From what we heard the traffic that they were going in the direction of what they would’ve traveled is going to be packed,” Wardlaw said. “So the police are saying if you don’t have to go on the highways don’t do it. So we’re not going to take the chances with our teams, knowing that it will take them three hours to get somewhere.”

Some of the staff on campus was unaware that the campus would be closed or why. Athletic trainer Patty Gallego was one of them.

“Game on, I’ll be in at 2 p.m.,” she said in a text at 11:15 a.m. But just a few minutes later she was notified of the cancellation.

“Change that, games are cancelled too!” she wrote.

Every building was locked and shut by noon including the Shatford Library and the Piazza. One librarian started locking the doors of the library right at noon and told perplexed students that they had to shut down the library for reasons she didn’t know of at the moment.

The I-8 Food Services and the catering department, which started its preparation at 5:30 a.m., didn’t receive an email until 9 a.m.

I-8’s catering Manager, Pai Pispratuang, informed Terry Surin, the Piazza Food Counter Manager, that they were to prepare for an early closing due to the rain, he said.

Surin said they were able to save some of the chopped vegetables that were prepared for the day’s events to use for events coming over the weekend. The Piazza only had a few hours to sell food.

The only building that remained open was the Center for the Arts Building, which featured the musical theatre production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” at 8 p.m. in Center for the Arts Theatre. The Pamela L. Girard Guest Artist/Master Class Series also continued its show at 8 p.m. in the Westerbeck Recital Hall.

“Now the performances are still going on. Our Theater Arts department decided not to cancel,” Wardlaw said. “The show must go on.”

Staff writer Monique LeBleu contributed to this story.