Last week, a pipe burst and a sprinkler line broke in Commons and Village residence halls, respectively. This flooded rooms and forced residents to leave their suites, according to Associate Vice President for Public Relations John Morgan.

Freezing temperatures caused both incidents, according to Facilities, via Morgan.

When a Village sprinkler line broke around 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 22, 16 of the 23 residents in the four suites were instructed to leave their residence hall so Facilities and an outside contractor could start the cleanup and repair process. In the meantime, the students in the Village 540s were relocated to another residence hall on Mount Carmel.

Two days later, a similar incident occurred in Commons, when eight students were forced to leave their rooms for approximately three hours after a pipe burst.

Most of the students living in Village 540s have returned to their suites. However, there are some students who haven’t been able to return to their rooms in Village yet.

Sophomore Connor McLeod lives in Village 543, the room below where the sprinkler line broke. McLeod and his suitemates are among the students who were relocated to Larson.

“There was no one living there in the first place, so we were all relocated together,” McLeod said. “They expect[ed] to have us back in our room by Friday [Feb. 27] or so, but they have to replace our walls and such due to the damage.”

The university contacted McLeod and his roommates later last week and told them they cannot return to their room until after spring break.

Sophomore Kelly Ledwith lives in Village 541, the room in which the sprinkler line burst. Ledwith said the pipe was located in her bedroom on the second level of the suite.

“When I got out of bed, water started rushing in on the floor and you could hear the sound of it through the wall,” Ledwith said. “Within a few minutes, our bedroom had three to four inches of water, the bedroom next door had water and it went down to our common room, which had at least an inch of water.”

Ledwith said her and her roommates remained in a suite in Larson until Saturday morning.

Both Ledwith and McLeod said personal property was ruined, but Quinnipiac has been working with them to assess how much harm has been done.

“There was a lot of damage,” McLeod said. “Our television was damaged along with several electrical devices, including chargers and fridges. Our couch, rugs and wooden stand were also ruined.”

Ledwith said she and her suitemates had similar issues with their personal property being ruined by all of the water.

“A lot of our clothes bins and things under our bed were damaged,” Ledwith said. “All of my shoes were kept under my bed so a lot of them were damaged. My computer was on the floor charging and got some water damage in it. Electrical things like my hair straightener, hair curler and blow dryer were under my desk and are ruined.”

When asked if the university would be reimbursing the students for their damaged property, McLeod said he believes that will be the case.

“Mostly likely,” he said. “From what they’ve been telling us, they will.”

McLeod also said he was impressed with how helpful the university has been throughout the situation.

“Quinnipiac has been pretty accommodating and responded quickly to the matter,” he said. “They are currently working with the insurance companies to cover any damages.”

None of the students affected by the pipe burst in Commons were available for comment.