Josh Imhof & Kaitlyn Hughes | news editor & editor-in-chief

Duquesne University’s campus saw flooding Thursday evening as heavy storms swept through the Pittsburgh region.

Sporadic puddles dotted the first floor of College Hall, while the Nitespot in the Gormley Student Union had visible pools of water but was closed to students. 

There was leaking in the Incline. 

Part of the ceiling collapsed in a classroom in Bayer Hall. 

And trash cans were set up in Hogan Dining Hall to collect water leaking from the ceiling. 

Gabriel Welsch, vice president of marketing and communications, said more than 35 facility employees worked from 9 p.m. Thursday to Friday addressing impacts from the storm.

“Some of whom had to make multiple attempts to get to campus due to citywide street flooding,” Welsch said.

The power remained on, Hogan stayed open and there was no permanent damage.

Residents in Towers reported water leaking through their windows and covering their floors. 

“I walked out of the shower. I’m like why does it sound like outside is inside,” said Steven Shearin, a sophomore biology major who is a resident assistant on the fourth floor of Towers. “It kind of stopped after the first big pour, now it’s just residual leaking in the room.” 

As the water began to leak into the building, Will Clemsor, a sophomore biology major who is an RA on the third floor of towers called the emergency maintenance hotline. 

“They said they got like 50 calls in eight minutes, so they’re very backed up,” Clemson said. 

RAs were told to use towels and buckets until they can get maintenance to service them, he said.

Alexay Adams, a sophomore business major who is a resident on the third floor of towers, used toilet paper to wipe the water up. 

Tyler Downs, a sophomore biology major who is a resident on the third floor of Towers, duct taped his window because it was leaking. 

“It’s holding pretty good,” he said. 

The rain water didn’t cause issues for all the students on campus. Elizabeth Liebe, Lauren Dalasio, Makailah Davis and Ann Picariello were seen playing on a flooded McCloskey Field Thursday evening. They were dancing, cartwheeling and having splash fights in the rainwater that was leftover from the storm. 

Jason Frazier, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, estimated the region saw about two to four inches of rain in three hours Thursday.

There was street flooding across the city, specifically in the east toward Westmoreland County. 

“Even if there wasn’t a ton of street flooding … structures might not be able to handle that amount of water,” Frazier said. 

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu. Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at hughesk10@duq.edu.