An unexpected flood crashed an Ancient Greece–themed party in the Mods, drenching furniture, clothing, food, and toga-sporting guests on Saturday night.
“We had a lot of stored possessions under our stairs, so I was watching all of that get soaked and seeing people run out the door soaking wet, [and] it was 20 degrees outside,” Matt Child, CSOM ’22, said.
Child said he stood near the sliding glass door of his Mod when he heard high-pitched screams from across the living room.
Turning around, he noticed water rushing down the stairway, spraying all over his guests.
“I opened up the door and everyone went past me,” Child said. “At that point, I was in awe of what I was seeing.”
Child said the cause of the flood was unclear at first, but Will Maskill, one of Child’s roommates and MCAS ’22, said they later learned a fire sprinkler caused the major rush of water near the stairs after someone hung their coat on it.
“We definitely went into crisis mode,” Maskill said. “As soon as the sprinkler went off, it was a ton of water, and we were like ‘Okay, we need to get our TV out and laptops and stuff out as quickly as possible.’”
Maskill said he called the Boston College Police Department (BCPD) immediately after the deluge began. The BCPD officers showed up within minutes, followed by the fire department and BC’s Facilities Management shortly after, according to Maskill.
“We were having a toga party, so [BCPD] saw this outrageous theme on us,” Child said. “So they were laughing, but also serious—they handled it very well.”
After the firefighters turned off the Mod’s electricity and water, Child said that Howard Thrasher—the ResLife administrator on duty at the time—helped find places for the Mod residents to sleep for that night.
Maskill said that he and his roommates are unsure if the University will reimburse them for damage to personal property caused by the flood, but they have been in contact with the Office of Residential Life about next steps.
“They weren’t super clear on what would happen,” Maskill said. “They just asked us to send them pictures of what was damaged.”
Although Maskill and Child were unable to sleep in their rooms the night of the flood, BC provided industrial dehumidifiers and carpet shampooing services to repair the damage, Child explained.
According to Child, BC has not yet made any efforts to check for mold.
“We are concerned about the possibility of mold growing,” Child said. “We haven’t heard anything about that, but we’ve asked [ResLife] a couple times.”
Child said he hopes that he will not have to vacate his Mod again in the remaining days of his senior year.
“Hopefully, by next week, everything should be dry again, and hopefully there will be no mold and no reason that we have to leave during these last days in the Mod,” Child said.
BCPD and ResLife did not respond to a request for comment.
Featured Image by Steve Mooney / Heights Editor
