The video of James Madison University that started it all. Screenshot: Madison Gill/TikTok
Heavy rain in Harrisonburg led to JMU flooding this week during finals.
Why it matters: The university is going viral on TikTok because of students taking part in an extremely dangerous but decadeslong tradition of swimming in floodwater or using other methods of transportation (tubing) to get around when the campus floods.
The TikTok, posted Wednesday to the tune of "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls, has over 1.6 million views and 291,000 likes.
It shows students:
In nearly waist-high water trekking through Duke Dog Alley, a tunnel connecting West and East campus, while people watch.
Falling off a tube into the water while another dives into it.
Between the lines: The flooding usually happens because Newman Lake, which runs through West campus, overflows during major storms.
Sabrina's thought bubble: I don't know how JMU hasn't figured out how to fix this, but when I was a freshman at JMU, the university flooded (again), and I saw someone riding a banana boat through campus.
