Saturday is supposed to dawn sunny and clear, but it may be too late: Stormwater flooding has been reported all over campus, from the Timothy Dwight basement and dining hall to the athletic fields.
TD master Jeffrey Brenzel e-mailed students this morning to announce that water has flooded the college’s basement, library and dining hall — even its master’s house. Most of the basement is covered in a shallow layer of water. The dining hall will be closed until further notice while facilities staff clean up and repair the damage.
“We’ve got the 100 year flood now taking place,” Brenzel said in hie e-mail. “Water is coming in from the saturated lake surrounding us, and in some areas (dining hall), the New Haven storm drains are backing up, bringing with it more than just water.”
Though TD is the only college so far to report extensive flooding, the Ezra Stiles section of Commons is also closed due to encroaching storm water. And Branford Independence Day, Branford’s annual field day, has been pushed from Friday to Oct. 9 because of the weather, Branford administrative assistant Alicia Heaney announced to students in an e-mail.
Further from campus, the athletics fields are closed to all practicing today, an Athletics Department administrator announced in an e-mail.
The rest of New Haven is no less vulnerable.
Rain-induced sinkholes are plaguing Union Avenue by Union Station, City Hall spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga wrote in a statement. The street will remain closed as the city and state strive to repair the damage.
Although many city roads have been reopened after dealing with flooding earlier in the day, Mayorga wrote that Union Avenue, along with others throughout the city, are closed. Trains are delayed.
Mayorga wrote early this afternoon power should be restored to Edgewood, which are experiencing power outages, at about 2 p.m.