Toilet Overflows in Dorm, Students Forced to Evacuate

A flooded toilet in Greenough Hall created an electrical fire hazard, forcing students to evacuate the dormitory yesterday for more than two hours.

The third-floor north-end room, located directly below the flooded bathroom on the fourth floor, suffered the most damage from the overflowing toilet.

"My shoes are soaked. My clothes are soaked. Everything on my floor was soaked. I'm afraid I'm quite upset," said Sara Forsdyke '90, who lives in the single.

At 11:00 a.m., Greenough resident Vaishali Bakshi '90, noticed water seeping down the walls of the third floor hallway. She went upstairs to the fourth floor and found water "spewing like a fountain" from one of the three toilets on the floor, Bakshi said.

The water leaked through to the building's electrical system, causing short-outs. These short-outs set off the hall's fire alarms, a Greenough proctor said.

Robert Farias, the crew chief of Cabot House, who was called to remove the water since the Greenough superintendant was out of town, assessed the damage at $300 to $400. He said that repairs to the electrical system would be completed later this week.

Cambridge firemen declared the building "dangerous" and told students to leave the dormitory until they could ascertain that the water would not start a shortage or fire.

"We were all carted-off half naked to the Union," said Frank Manfredi '90, a Greenough resident.

Two policemen stood at the entryway for two hours to prevent anyone from entering the building. The Greenoughers went to the Union Parlor B, where they watched television and had a pillow fight, according to Greenough resident Thuylam Tran '90.