Downpour on the Drillfield

On Wednesday, February 7^th, portions of the Virginia Tech campus were literally underwater.  Students embarked upon the hike across campus to attend various classes while donning raincoats, boots, and umbrellas in order to combat the wet conditions.  Many staircases served as temporary fountains for the overflowing water, and depressions in the pavement throughout campus mimicked miniature ponds, preparing to splash the next unsuspecting passerby.  The precipitation began Tuesday night and continued throughout the day on Wednesday, relentlessly soaking the outer layer of the earth’s surface.  This picture was taken around noon on Wednesday, and it exposes the standing water that had already accumulated on the Drillfield.  There are a variety of factors that make a region generally prone to flooding, but this area is usually capable of maintaining normal water levels.  While the oval-shaped Drillfield does lay in somewhat of a basin, I do not believe this was the primary reason for the flooding.  Just a few days prior to the onslaught of rain, our campus was overwhelmed with precipitation in the form of snow and freezing rain.  Given the short time period between these two occurrences, it is evident that the earth had already reached the maximum saturation point; therefore, the remaining water was unable to penetrate the surface of the ground.  I was interested in this process because I had never seen sections of the Drillfield underwater, and these soggy conditions affected almost every Virginia Tech student.  Luckily, this was a very minor flood and I am not aware of any significant detrimental consequences directly related to the excess water; however, flooding on a much larger scale can be socially, economically, and environmentally devastating to communities.