Residents in the old River Houses now have something else to worry about besides rodents and roaches. Yesterday, numerous rooms in Kirkland, Eliot, Winthrop, and Dunster began to leak from the roof as the torrential rain hits Cambridge nonstop for two days.

In an e-mail sent to his House last night, Scott Haywood, building manager of Kirkland House, gave an explanation for why some of the rooms were leaking (other than "because it's raining").

"These leaks are not due to the roof structure but are the result of missing mortar or cracked bricks in the 94 years old chimney stacks. The blowing wind pushes water through any gaps and cracks and collects behind the face course of bricks in the chimneys," Haywood wrote.

According to Haywood, no repair work can be done until the rain stops, but, in the meantime, we may have found a novel solution!

John J. Pomeri of Dunster House told us all you need to do is give your building manager's office a call to report a leak. Building maintenance will happily supply you with a bucket until the rain goes away.

Just one more day until sunshine. Please.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Jon Pallbo.