Several campus buildings faced flooding and leakages following a flash flood warning in some parts of Providence County Sunday afternoon.
Sears House faced the most flooding, with water entering the basement at around 3 p.m. Last fall, Sears also saw flooding when heavy rain hit Providence.
Water also leaked through ceilings onto the first floor of Sternlicht Commons and the third floor of Harkness House. At the time of this story’s release, the Department of Facilities Management did not respond to requests for comment.
Multiple students took to social media to share information and photos of the flooding.
Tyler Gurth ’25 posted a video of the Sears basement floods on Instagram and a photo on the anonymous messaging board Sidechat, where it garnered around 400 upvotes from Brown students within two hours.
And Jessica Ni ’25 posted on Sidechat about her dorm room in Harkness facing a ceiling leak.
This is not the first time University buildings have experienced flooding, especially during extreme weather conditions.
Last September, 35 first-year students were displaced from their dorm rooms due to flooding in the basement of the Archibald-Bronson dorm in the Keeney Quadrangle, The Herald previously reported.
In January of 2022, all Andrews Hall residents were evacuated due to flooding in portions of the building’s east wing, The Herald previously reported. Rooms in all five residential floors and hallways of the third and fourth floors were affected.
Cold weather has also led to pipe bursts on campus in the past, leaving buildings such as Andrews Hall, Diman House, Sayles Hall, the Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences and the Biomedical Center flooded, The Herald previously reported. For those buildings, restoration efforts lasted through April.
Kathy Wang is the senior editor of community of The Brown Daily Herald's 134th Editorial Board. She previously covered student government and international student life as a University News editor. When she's not at The Herald, you can find her watching cooking videos or writing creative nonfiction.
Neil Mehta is the editor-in-chief and president of the Brown Daily Herald's 134th editorial board. They study public health and statistics at Brown. Outside the office, you can find Neil baking and playing Tetris.
