A Rowan University student predicted disaster seconds before floodwaters smashed through his off-campus home’s glass doors in Glassboro, New Jersey.
Tommy Scirrotto, a resident of the flooded house, said the Aug. 27 storm claimed the entire lower level, destroying four bedrooms in the process. “The storms in Glassboro, Nj claimed the entirety of the lower level at our home. 4 bedrooms completely flooded, resulting in a huge amount of damage,” he wrote on GoFundMe. Photos posted to the fundraising page showed furniture, beds and rugs completely submerged in the floodwater that overtook the space.
The video captured the tense buildup and chaotic breach. At the start of the clip, about an inch of water had already seeped into the lower level as a student approached the French doors. Several feet of floodwater pressed against the other side, visibly straining the glass. Towels had been placed along the base in a desperate attempt to hold back the deluge.
“This door is gonna break,” the student said, just as one door immediately gave way and was sent flying across the room.
Water rushed inside in a violent surge, overwhelming multiple makeshift barriers made of laundry that residents had scrambled to assemble. The flood inundated the lower level within moments, transforming the student housing into a disaster scene just as the academic year was about to begin.
The timing could hardly have been worse. The severe storms struck as Rowan University students were preparing to move into housing ahead of the September start of the school year, leaving Scirrotto and his roommates to confront extensive damage before classes even began.
Rowan University issued a warning about severe flash-flooding conditions across the region on the same day as the home invasion. “Several campus buildings have also taken on water,” the university said, urging students and staff to “exercise caution and stay safe during this severe weather.”
The National Weather Service reported that the wider southwestern New Jersey region received between 4 and 6 inches of rain during the storm system, enough to trigger the dramatic flash flooding that breached the students’ home and infiltrated campus buildings alike.
The video’s viral spread has drawn national attention to the destruction wrought by the late-summer storms, with viewers struck by the precise timing of the student’s prediction and the immediate, violent fulfillment that followed. The flying door panel and rushing water provided a visceral illustration of flash flooding’s unpredictable power, even in residential settings where residents had attempted basic protective measures.
Scirrotto’s GoFundMe effort has become a focal point for those seeking to help the displaced students recover, with the posted images of submerged belongings underscoring the comprehensive nature of the lower-level destruction. Four bedrooms worth of personal property and living space was lost in the flood, leaving the residents to sort through the damage as the semester approached.
The storm’s impact extended well beyond the single off-campus house, with multiple campus buildings taking on water and regional authorities warning of dangerous conditions across southwestern New Jersey. The 4 to 6 inches of rainfall proved sufficient to overwhelm both natural drainage and improvised human defenses, from towel-lined doorframes to laundry-barricaded hallways.
Rowan University’s alert to its community emphasized the widespread nature of the threat, with the infiltration of campus buildings indicating that no area in the flood zone was fully secure from the rising waters.
Scirrotto and his roommates face the challenge of rebuilding their living space as the academic year gets underway, with the GoFundMe campaign serving as their primary avenue for financial recovery from a disaster that struck without warning but, as the video shows, not entirely without prediction.