Campus Hit Hard by Rain

The University's campus was wet from top to bottom yesterday as inches of water covered tunnels and basement rooms, and rain dripped into student's rooms.

The Winthrop House dining hall experienced the worst of the flooding, forcing House officials to close the dining hall for brunch and dinner.

Although the kitchen was dry for most of the morning, flooding began around 10 a.m.. Water seeped in through drains, covering the kitchen and dining area with several inches of water, and the dining hall was completely shut down by noon.

"We've been in there with portable vacuum cleaners, but you can't keep up with it," said John Provencher, Winthrop's head chef.

As the water level rose, the house's kitchen staff--bearing omelets and hash browns--made its way to neighboring houses. Hungry students followed.

Leverett House dining hall staff said they served approximately 125 more meals than they had expected yesterday.

Several inches of water also covered the Winthrop House mail room floor, but Provencher said student mail and packages were not affected.

Students and tutors reported flooding and leaking in most other houses. Only a few buildings on campus ,were not waterlogged: officials said they had no reports of leaks in the Malkin Athletic Center, Cabot House or Pforzheimer House.

According to an employee in the Eliot House Superintendent's Office who declined to give his name, the floors of some student rooms, the pool room, laundry room and house grill were soaked.

"There's nothing we can do until it stops raining," he said. "If you take it up, there's no place to put it; so you might as well leave it there."

Both maintenance workers and students scurried for buckets yesterday, as students' ceilings dripped and the rain continued.

"It's coming in through the chimneys," said Estella Diaz, an employee in the Adams Superintendent's Office, who estimated that five or six student rooms were affected.

Diaz added that the house laundry room was also wet.

"We're going to do the pan thing for now," said Kristen A. Olfazsky '98, an employee at the Dunster Superintendent's Office, who fielded two complaints of leaking roofs and another of water leaking into the tunnels from the woodworking room.

While officials did not yet have estimates of damage or repair costs, the rain took its toll on roofs and house interiors. Even in Kirkland House, which experienced only minor flooding, a sizable puddle surrounded--and soaked--a listing ping-pong table.

Inches of water covered tunnels in Adams, Dunster, Eliot, Kirkland, Leverett, Lowell and Mather Houses, while leaking roofs were reported in Adams, Currier, Eliot, Mather and Quincy Houses and Claverly Hall

According to an employee in the Eliot House Superintendent's Office who declined to give his name, the floors of some student rooms, the pool room, laundry room and house grill were soaked.

"There's nothing we can do until it stops raining," he said. "If you take it up, there's no place to put it; so you might as well leave it there."

Both maintenance workers and students scurried for buckets yesterday, as students' ceilings dripped and the rain continued.

"It's coming in through the chimneys," said Estella Diaz, an employee in the Adams Superintendent's Office, who estimated that five or six student rooms were affected.

Diaz added that the house laundry room was also wet.

"We're going to do the pan thing for now," said Kristen A. Olfazsky '98, an employee at the Dunster Superintendent's Office, who fielded two complaints of leaking roofs and another of water leaking into the tunnels from the woodworking room.

While officials did not yet have estimates of damage or repair costs, the rain took its toll on roofs and house interiors. Even in Kirkland House, which experienced only minor flooding, a sizable puddle surrounded--and soaked--a listing ping-pong table.

Inches of water covered tunnels in Adams, Dunster, Eliot, Kirkland, Leverett, Lowell and Mather Houses, while leaking roofs were reported in Adams, Currier, Eliot, Mather and Quincy Houses and Claverly Hall