A water tank failing is to blame for Saturday’s flooding in Lawrence Hall which impacted several dorms, displacing at least 21 students and destroying rooms according to multiple sources.

Chris Hill, vice president of operations at Physical Plant, referred comment to Lou Corsaro, a university spokesperson.

Corsaro said efforts are being made to repair damaged dorms and get the building back in working order as quickly as possible.

Water damage from the boiler failure spanned from the 13th floor to the 20th floor, with rooms on floors 18 through 20 sustaining the most damage.

Corsaro said any student who had items damaged or ruined by flooding will be reimbursed by Point Park’s insurance company.

Keith Paylo, dean of student affairs, confirmed that reimbursement is not restricted to any one kind of item and will apply for anything damaged by the flood.

“We’re still assessing all the damages and everything,” Paylo said, “and we’re going to work with each one of those students and go through that process.” He also denied rumors alleging only electronics would be replaced.

All displaced students are staying at the Joinery Hotel on the Boulevard of the Allies, according to Paylo.

According to several people involved with evacuating displaced students, Resident Educators (REs) were ultimately responsible for getting students out of affected rooms. Nobody from Student Life was available for comment by press time.

However, every person staying on affected floors were told to move items away from steam pipes as a precaution, according to several students staying on floors 13 through 20.

Paylo called the incident a rare occurrence, saying Physical Plant does what it can to prevent such floods.

“This is a once in a very long time kind of thing,” Paylo said. “Unfortunately, it does happen, but when it does, we have to react and do everything we can to get back to normal.”

He also praised university staff for responding as quickly as they could to the disaster, despite when the flood started. Paylo and Dean of Student Life Michael Gieseke also confirmed that Point Park hired outside contractors to assist Physical Plant with clean-up efforts.

“None of these things ever happen at two o’clock in the afternoon, it’s always one o’clock in the morning,” Paylo said. “Even despite that, we reacted quickly and got to things as fast as we [could].”

Student Life sent an email to each student in Lawrence Hall explaining next steps, such as cleaning operations by maintenance staff and asking affected students to take pictures of room damage.

Additionally, those with damaged rooms still have access to their dorm even if they are staying off campus.

Liz McKinney, a first-year theatre production student staying on the 17th floor, said she found out about the flood when her roommate texted them about it while she was off campus.

“Once I made it to campus, I saw REs scrambling to try and come up with the quickest ways to help their residents in a situation they were not trained for,” McKinney said. “I went up to my floor to see the conditions of my dorm – thankfully very minimal damage. However, the carpet was extremely soaked throughout the rest of the floor and water was pooling due to the amount of it.”

McKinney also saw pictures of damage to a triple room on the floor, which they said was devastating. Several students interviewed said the triple rooms on affected floors sustained the most damage, especially on the 18th floor.

Hannah Cudzil, a sophomore psychology student, lives on the 18th floor and was in her dorm room when the flooding started at midnight Saturday. She’s one of the 21 students who were moved to the Joinery Hotel due to ongoing room repairs.

“I heard shouting in the hallway and then knocks on the door and then one of the REs saying ‘evacuate, everyone evacuate,’” Cudzil said. “I was like ‘OK, something’s going on.’ I didn’t think it was flooding until students were shouting that it’s flooding that I got up from bed and opened the door.”

Cudzil said she was told to grab items out of her dorm, but wasn’t told how much to take, so she only took a blanket, a pillow and her computer. REs then said to go to Lawrence Hall’s lobby.

Eventually, Cudzil said she was told by Student Life to go back to the 18th floor, which had a completely flooded hallway at that point. Cudzil said she and other residents were at a loss for what to do, with most not going back to their dorms because of the water and some deciding to walk through it anyway.

Some residents went to the lobby again only to be told to go back to the 18th floor a second time to check on their belongings, according to Cudzil. At that point, she went into her dorm to find the floor covered in water.

“I was like, ‘I can’t sleep in this,’ I don’t want to sleep in this, half my floor is soaking wet,” Cudzil said. “I just turned around and I started crying and I looked at other people, because all 18th floor residents on the side that was flooded were all opening their doors and seeing what’s going on.”

According to Cudzil, Point Park Police also went to affected floors to assess damage. Maintenance crews did not show up until about 4 or 5 a.m., which is when she was already moved to the hotel.

Cudzil said the choice to move her and other students living in single rooms and double rooms was not well communicated. She said it took until REs surveyed rooms for Student Life to decide to move all affected residents into the Joinery Hotel.

“I thought that was suspicious because I’m like, does that mean you were going to keep us in the dorm?” Cudzil said.

She said what she describes as poor communication has not stopped after successfully being placed in a hotel, either. Cudzil said every time she asks an RE a question, they say they do not know the answer or have no information to give.

According to several Student Life staff who were not permitted to speak to the media, they have been told to refer all questions to Maria Ochoa, director of residence life. Ochoa was not available for comment.

“The best way to put it would be like left in the dark,” Cudzil said. “It’s kind of a scary, sick feeling.”

Cudzil said most of her belongings are still in her dorm room packed away in contractor bags thrown onto her bed, mixed with items she previously had in a separate corner of the dorm room which were still dry.

Affected residents were invited to a meeting with Gieseke on Monday to discuss what’s next after the flood, such as reimbursement for damaged items. The Globe was not permitted to attend the meeting because it was private, but Cudzil was there.

“[Gieseke said] ‘if you want compensation, you have to talk to us,’ which is fine,” Cudzil said. “I understand that, but how much are we actually going to be compensated for?”

During Monday’s SGA meeting, Gieseke was present and spoke about the logistics of deciding what to do right after the flood occurred.

“We need the first 36 hours to find out how big of a deal it was,” Gieseke said. “First thing was stopping the water, second thing was getting all the water up, and the third thing is, now what does that mean? That’s where we’re at right now.”

Gieseke said the university will work with every student to figure out what was damaged, what can be salvaged and what needs replaced. He called the floods unfortunate and reiterated it was nobody’s fault, calling the flood a university situation.

Additionally, Gieseke said reimbursement and replacement may take longer than repairing the rooms.

“Some of you have a million things in your room, some of you have ten,” Gieseke said. “Every room is a little bit different.”

Still, Cudzil said communication throughout the university needs to improve so her and other affected students are seen and heard. For instance, Cudzil said she and other affected students have been met with scrutiny for using Lawrence Hall’s laundry facilities to wash lots of clothes, saying people have been judgmental despite them using the laundromat to prevent mold growth on their clothes.

Another student, who did not want to be named, said they saw two students blocking the entrance to Lawrence Hall’s laundry facilities and did not understand why until they found out about the flood.

Even if her dorm and others are repaired, Cudzil said staying in Lawrence Hall will give her an uneasy feeling from here on out.

“Knowing that I’m going back to a room that was absolutely flooded and we have the potential of the ceilings to fall, it just does not feel good,” Cudzil said. “The fact I can’t even live here without worries that I’m going to lose half or all my stuff – I don’t want to be here.”

She said the only reason she stays in Lawrence Hall is the lower price compared to other campus housing and off campus options but tries to be flexible with what she can afford.

Still, Cudzil said she’s spending a lot on college and should not worry about building malfunctions such as a major flood.

“Is it really worth it?” No,” Cudzil said. “Where’s the money going if these buildings are falling apart by the wayside?”

Paylo said there’s no timeline for when repairs can be complete, but he said he hopes to get students back to their normal housing situation as quickly as possible.