When students left the morning meeting today, a thunderstorm was in full force just outside Masters Hall. As opposed to going to the quad or dining hall during the break as students usually do, many remained in the student lounge of Masters Hall or went to class 20 minutes early. The day’s forecast indicated a high of 80 degrees, so the sudden thunderstorm took students by surprise. Luckily, many of the seniors participating in the annual spoons game brought beach towels for the day’s immunity.
Matthew Jang’25 arrived at school late and on the way to school he was caught in the storm. He said, “The roads were super flooded, all of a sudden. It created a whole lot of traffic.”
Around 10:10 a.m., the hallway on the ground floor of Masters Hall by the Dean Suite began to flood, although wet floor signs and vacuums were brought out quickly. Renee Hurley, the senior class dean, was caught unaware by the water in the suite. She said, “I came downstairs from Morning Meeting and immediately stepped into the puddle. My shoes got completely wet.” Hurley had taken off her shoes and was walking around the Dean Suit in her “prom socks.”
Hurley also pointed out that the flooding was the second notable event of the day, the fire alarm having gone off in Morris during first period. By 10:40 a.m., the storm had moved off campus and headed north-east. While Masters was relatively unscathed by the downpour, there were reports of a potential tornado in Orange County, according to News12. In the Tri-state area, thousands of people lost power, with regional airports pausing ground movement, and hail and extreme wind hitting the city, according to NBC New York.