The area in front of Rabb steps was reopened last Tuesday night after being flooded by a broken city water main last Monday afternoon, Head of University Services Mark Collins said. Facilities workers were present while city crews from the Waltham Water Dept. repaired the pipe, whose entire circumference had cracked, Collins said. Facilities workers were unable to repair the pipe themselves because it was a city water main, Mark Collins said.

The broken main, located about eight-and-a-half feet underground, flooded the peripheral road and caused an increase in water temperature in nearby North Quad, residents said.

"The water in the toilet was so hot that you could feel it when you sat down," Reitman Three resident Preethi Rao '09 said.

With Rabb steps closed, Robin Farber '09 said she had to take a longer route to class.

"I was in a rush," she said. But she said was glad that Public Safety secured the area.

Collins said last week that he intended to open the peripheral road by Tuesday morning. Even though it did not open until Tuesday evening, he praised the Waltham Water Department and the Department of Public Safety for their speedy efforts.

Mark Mancuso, the City Engineer who oversees the water department, "was on top of everything in a timely manner," Collins said. "The city has a great asset in [Mancuso] as well as all the men he oversees.