A toilet malfunction created a leak that damaged ceiling tiles in Lawrence Hall on Monday, March 10, according to Chris Hill, vice president of operations at Physical Plant.

Physical Plant responded in minutes to resolve the leak, Hill said. Beyond replacing ceiling tiles, Physical Plant also cleaned a section of the floor’s carpet as part of its response.

At the same time, Physical Plant’s work order system went down. Students received blast emails instructing them to send flood-related calls directly to Physical Plant and forego the system. 

Hill said the outage did not impact Physical Plant’s response.

The leak flooded a room on the 13th floor. One of the occupants, Sydney Kisiel, first-year SAEM major, had to miss class. 

“It was such a surreal feeling,” Kisiel said, “just sitting on my bed watching the room fill up with water and knowing there’s literally nothing I can do about it.”

By the time Physical Plant arrived at least five minutes later, according to Kisiel, the room had flooded with around two to three inches of water.

“None of our stuff was too badly damaged,” Kisiel said. “Just a few of my sweatshirts got wet, but I washed them [and] they’re fine.”

Kisiel’s roommate, Breonna Evans, a first-year student, was in the Student Center’s esports room when the pipe burst. 

“I think it was handled really professionally,” Evans said.

I’m okay, we’re okay and our stuff is okay.” 

Kisiel said she and Evans had to move into a separate dorm across the hall because of the leak.

“We have a room with a good view now,” Kisiel said, “so honestly I’m not 100% mad about it.”

Lou Corsaro, assistant vice president of public relations, said this leak was one of a few in Lawrence Hall so far this year.

“We have had some bathroom pipes and one boiler pipe leak this year,” Corsaro said. “Those issues were quickly addressed.”

Peyton Martin contributed reporting to this article.