A broken water valve kept hundreds of Newman Hall residents out of their rooms for several hours Thursday afternoon.

The Champaign Fire Department responded to reports of the broken valve after alarms sounded at approximately 1:05 p.m. The incident occurred on the south side of the fourth floor at the residence hall.

Two fire trucks and another fire department vehicle were dispatched to the scene, as was a van from a mechanics company. Firefighters told Newman staff members that the valve was not a quick fix. The incident kept students out of areas other than the main cafeteria for over three hours.

“I live in the epicenter of the burst,” said Patrick Kelley, sophomore in LAS. “My roommate was up there at the time of the catastrophic event and he told me that water was going everywhere and that water was going under our door, so he made his best effort to put all of the important things onto the beds and the evacuate the premises as soon as possible.”

Robert Black, resident adviser at Newman Hall, said they would have evacuated the building even if the fire alarms had not gone off to see if there was any electrical damage or other issues.

According to an e-mail sent to residents and their parents, students were allowed back in the residence hall at 4:30 p.m.

Eighteen rooms in the south building had some water in them, according to the e-mail. The staff is working with residents to replace or repair any damaged belongings.

The water was shut off to the south building and restored to the north building. Water will be off until repairs are made to the broken valve. Black said this should not take more than 24 hours and in the meantime residents are to use the public restrooms available from the second to sixth floors.

Black said this was similar to an incident last year. Generators feeding power to the north side of the building sustained flood damage after a thunderstorm. Dining hall services were suspended for a weekend, and north side residents were required to move to temporary housing provided by other campus residence halls.

“We take pride in the community we have here at Newman and our ability to handle these situations,” Black said.

Jill Disis and Hilary Osborn contributed to this report