Students arriving at the Humanities building Tuesday were met with a flood of hot water when a pipe broke above the first floor ceiling.

According to witnesses, the incident happened around 9:20 a.m. Hot water rained from the ceiling into large black and blue trash bins positioned outside HUM 133, the Humanities Auditorium, until almost 11:30 a.m., causing at least one class to be canceled for the day, and at least five others moved to alternate rooms, including intro to semantics and 20th century Chinese literature.

The pipes that carry all the hot water used throughout the building began heavily leaking near HUM 133, causing some ceiling panels to fall and water to cover the floor. The classes in the area between HUM 100 and 133, along with the main entrance were affected by the flood.

“Hot water and steam were coming down, and students were determined to get to class,” said Peg Sarosy, academic coordinator for the American Language Institute, adding that she saw at least two inches of water on the floor.

Robert Hutson, associate vice president of Facilities and Services Enterprises, said most of the water was cleaned up by 12:15 p.m., and Jim Lilliston, who is in charge of room assignments in the Humanities building said all the classrooms were cleaned up and back in use by 3:30 p.m. However, HUM 133 was unavailable to host a guest speaker on Wednesday morning.

“It was kind of chaotic,” said Lilliston, “but we managed to get it done.”

The replacement of expansion joints for hot water is currently underway throughout the campus, according to Hutson. He also said the large amount of water was from a leak, not a pipe that burst.

Students were directed to enter the Humanities building through the northern entrance, diverting traffic away from the water logged boxes and papers piled up outside the American Language Institute.

Evan Christensen, maintenance superintendent of Facilities and Services Enterprises did not respond to phone calls by press time.

Anna Elledge contributed to this report.