Several pools of water grow unimpeded in the tunnel hallways under residence dorms, a student-led slip and slide party is broken up by Public Safety, and all the while student’s clothes lay unattended in laundry rooms as connected hallways are sectioned off by caution tape.
On Sept. 2, 2026, an evening thunderstorm caused tunnels to flood under student dorms. Public Safety officers and Facilities Management Services (FMS) employees quickly set up caution tape and halted all non-essential traffic in the tunnels. An anonymous FMS worker analyzed the cause of the scene as soon as they arrived.
“Well, it’s a leak from outside the building. From the pavement, right? The rain hit hard; must have gotten a lot of rain,” the worker said. “I mean, this is telling me that, you know, lots of water.”
This heavy rain caused a considerable amount of water to build up above the tunnels.
“So, this is — right here is the foundation of Sol Heumann, the building, and so right now, we’re underneath Sol Heumann. I want to see where it’s ponding outside… somewhere there’s a foundation leak, and it’s just pouring right on,” the worker said.
Public Safety officers were also heard over radio stating, “The hatches are open in some of the buildings because of the fire drills from earlier, and they were never re-closed. So please check Sol Heumann Hall, Gibson, Res. Hall A and B and C.”
The leakage built up to the point where standing water reached ankle-depth in some areas.
“We’re going to get folks in to suck up the water because in this particular area, there aren’t any floor drains…” said the FMS worker. “There’s a mechanical room over here that has a floor drain, but there’s no floor drain [here], this isn’t supposed to be getting this low — this water.”
Engineering student Richard Osborne said he felt that the flooding was a result of poor planning.
“I think it’s an issue of design and something that went wrong, and it can affect students in a bad way, because people are slipping — like, doing a slip and slide in it. So it could be a health concern as well,” Osborne said.
Following the tunnel closures, Residence Life sent out a public safety announcement email at 9:01 p.m., noting that they are aware of the flooding and reassuring residents.
“Our teams are actively monitoring the situation and taking appropriate action to address the impacts of the weather,” Residence Life said.
The email also advised students not to use the academic and residential tunnels on campus.
Roberto Perez, a resident in the student dorms, believes that the actions of students during a serious moment characterize the positivity of RIT’s community.
“Like, low-key it sucks, but I’m really happy that I got to see a slip and slide in person. The people like just using anything, their bodies… It was amazing,” Perez said. “We’re not lame… and I’m so happy about that. I came here with these expectations. That it would be tame, not crazy. But today has really shown me that people can be, like, actually wild here.”
