Rob Gerber carries Claire Champine on his back along Thacher Way through yesterday\’s snow and rain. The resulting slush and standing water flooded portions of campus\’ roads and walkways.

Brian Castro, an off-campus senior, was “filled with outrage” when he got to the flooded UMass campus at 3 p.m.

“It looked like the walkways were filled with slush puppies,” Castro said.

With water standing in foot-deep puddles, some students and staff questioned why classes hadn’t been canceled for the day.

Though some stayed home due to the difficulty, many students decided to go to class anyway. But they wondered why UMass didn’t cancel school for the day.

“Some places on campus, the water was up to my ankles and I was completely soaked when I got to class,” said junior Meredith Borg. “From my knees down I was completely soaked in water and I had boots on. People who don’t have boots [were] probably more soaked than I was.”

UMass spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said that the people of the Administration and Finance Department – the group responsible for canceling or keeping classes scheduled – made the best decision they could.

“The challenge is you have to make a decision at a certain point in time, before the university opens for the day based on information that you have at the time,” Blaguszewski said.

“It is difficult to predict, will it turn to rain? Will there be a flood? We recognize this is winter in New England and there might be some days where we just have to come to work in bad weather,” he added.

UMass officials typically makes a decision to cancel classes or delay the University’s opening by 4 a.m., according to Blaguszewski.

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning to the Amherst area yesterday.

Borg, a psychology major from Long Island, N.Y., said she got drenched walking from her dorm in Washington to her English class in Herter Hall. She said her professor had the class read for a few minutes and then let them leave due to the weather.

She said only about 15 of the 30 students showed up.

Though she was frustrated that she forged her way to class only to turn around less than 10 minutes later, she said she is happy she got to return to her dorm without sitting in her wet clothes too long.

She added that, like a snow day, yesterday’s weather could have been hazardous to students.

UMass had a delayed opening yesterday, with only classes held after 11 a.m. kept on schedule. According to Blaguszewski, this buys extra time for the University’s Phyical Plant staff to clear roads and parking lots as best as possible so the remainder of classes can be salvaged.

He said factors involved in the Administration and Finance Department’s decisions to cancel classes for a day include whether campus can operate safely and effectively, whether commuting students and people going to work can travel, and whether Pioneer Valley Transit Authority buses can function well enough to move people around campus.

He said the administration tries to determine a cancellation as early as possible so students can organize their day as necessary.

“Is it sloppy out? Absolutely. It’s winter in New England and there are going to be stormy days and if we are able to make sure the University is open and people can get their classes in that’s what we strive to do,” he said.

By 4 p.m., Amherst had gotten almost two inches of rain, the equivalent of 20 inches of snow, said Guilford Mooring, Department of Public Works director in Amherst. And heavy rain is much harder to deal with than snow, he said.

“You can plow snow out of the way…but you just can’t move water around,” Mooring said.”I’d take the snow over this because we could actually do something with the snow.”

As for other colleges in the area, Amherst, Hampshire and Mount Holyoke colleges had delayed openings until 10 a.m. Smith College stayed open all day.

But Borg was not the only student that felt yesterday’s classes should have been canceled.

“[I hate this weather] so much. I’m wearing really tall rain boots and the rain actually went inside of my boots,” said freshman Victoria Szydlowski. “I have five classes [on Tuesdays] so that means I’m out from 11:15 [to 5:30] It’s disgusting outside. It’s not just because it’s just wet, but the fact that it’s cold and wet.”

Chantal Vacher, a junior who lives in Belchertown, noted that although “the roads weren’t bad,” she still had trouble making it on time to her job at the Worcester D.C. She was an hour and a half late, because of the busses. The first bus that came was full. Luckily, she squeezed onto the second one.

Others were frustrated after making the trek only to find half-empty classrooms.

“My rain boots got so soaked on the walk to my class that I had to wear flip flops in class”, said Liz Newman, a sophomore. “I had a 200-person lecture earlier and I counted that only 26 people showed up.”

Nicole Carreiro, Lyndsey Woodman and Lisa Noris contributed to this report.

Domenic Poli can be reached at [email protected].