Sewage Overflows at 20 DeWolfe St., Displacing Students

Residents in five rooms on the first floor of 20 DeWolfe Street awoke Tuesday morning to a flood of sewage coming from their in-suite toilets, soaking the carpet floors and damaging personal property.

The incident originated from a clogged sewage pipe, according to Leverett House Building Manager Paul J. Hegarty, who oversees DeWolfe, which hosts overflow housing for some upperclassman Houses.

Water floods through the lobby of 20 DeWolfe Street as the result of a sewage overflow that occurred on Tuesday. By George J Lok

The totality of the damage will be assessed on Thursday, Hegarty said. Meanwhile, residents of the five rooms affected, including four student suites and one tutor residence, have temporarily relocated to rooms in McKinlock Hall and the renovated Inn at Harvard. Hegarty said he expects them to remain there until Monday.

Residents were given instructions to return Wednesday morning to move their belongings into storage while their rooms are repaired and sanitized, according to Amanda X. Fang ’18, a Crimson sports editor.

The students who live on the other floors of DeWolfe also have to put up with the stench that the flooding created.

The floor of the laundry room on the first floor of 20 DeWolfe Street remains covered with water Tuesday night. By George J Lok

“Oh my God, it smells horrible,” said Giannina Marciano ’18, one of the residents affected by the sewage overflow. “It smells like shit, like completely like shit. It’s humid. It’s really moist. When you walk into DeWolfe 20, you can just smell it right away.”

Marciano said a similar incident occurred three days earlier when the toilet in one of the suites overflowed, but was promptly repaired without causing significant damage.

In some rooms, the sewage spread from the bathroom into the residents’ bedrooms, damaging shoes, rugs, textbooks, and a vinyl player, according to Marciano.

Another student affected, Alexander H. Jin ’18, said he and his roommates were not immediately relocated until sewage started leaking from a closet wall later in the afternoon.

—Staff writer R. Blake Paterson can be reached at blake.paterson@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @BlakePat95.