On Sunday, Sept. 13, a flash flood in Connecticut led to sunken roads, stranded cars and flooded basements. According to the Connecticut Coastal Times, about six inches of rain fell in the Fairfield area within a matter of hours, and nearly eight inches in other parts of Connecticut.
| Instagram, @alfredoenhd |
Despite the severity of the flooding throughout Fairfield and Bridgeport, Sacred Heart’s campus avoided much of the physical damage seen in surrounding areas. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont described the storm as a “rain bomb” because of the immense amount of rain that fell in
such a short time. The rain created concerns for campus safety and affected students’ travel to and from the university.
“We experienced some minor water issues in the main academic building and a few residence halls,” said Brian Rojee, head of public safety. “Thankfully, the amazing Campus Ops staff and our university partners were on the scene and had everything resolved relatively quickly considering the historic amount of rain we received in such a short period of time.”
Rojee also highlighted how fortunate the university was that the storm hit on the weekend rather than a busy weekday. Because the storm was on a Sunday, transportation was not dramatically affected.
“There were some road closures in the surrounding areas, Bridgeport and Fairfield, and traveling was difficult and interrupted in some areas, but the Sunday shuttle demand was low,” said Rojee. “Other than a few hours of inconvenience, the impact was minimal. We are lucky to be situated far enough away from the shoreline that we were not impacted by the dramatic scenes highlighted on the news.”
However, campus life was not totally uninterrupted. 63’s flooded and the dining hall was closed at 2 p.m.
“I took the wet trot all the way to the Main Academic Building just to learn that 63’s was closed…again. But it didn’t matter as Linda’s was open and operational,” said junior Keegan Noone.
Students were not only affected by the rainfall, but also the humidity.
“On our drive to Linda’s the humidity was so strong my friend could barely see through the windshield…despite the defrosters on blast,” said Noone.
Week one of the 2026 NFL season also began that Sunday, which gave students a reason to stay indoors.
“I wasn’t affected as I never left…I was too busy doing homework and watching football,” said junior Joey Dellorusso.
For some students, Sunday became more of a rest day rather than an emergency.
“If anything, the storm made me feel better for having a lazy Sunday as it gave me an excuse for doing so,” said Dellorusso
