Students gather in Miller-Morgan auditorium at 1 a.m. Oct. 10 waiting to return to Eagleson Residential Hall. (Photo: Bryson Pope/Echo Staff Photogtapher)

All Eagleson Hall residents were forced to evacuate last night after water flooded the building at around 11 p.m.

Residents were directed to the Miller-Morgan Building by campus police, where they were briefed on the condition of the dorm as well as of their belongings.

“The water line broke, and now they have electrical problems,” said campus police officer Kelvin Raynor. “That’s not good.”

According to Raynor, the problem began on the ninth floor, causing water to flow down to the other floors and even down to George Street.

He said he was alerted about the incident around 11:30 p.m.

Residents say they are worried about their belongings.

“They will not tell me what’s going on,” said psychology sophomore Markia Gray. “I don’t understand.”

Gray lives in room 631. She said her first inclination was to call her family in Statesville to fill them in on the night’s happenings.

She said she was eating in the cafeteria during the midnight breakfast when the DJ announced the dorm was flooding.

“We took off running,” she said.

James Hines, mass communication sophomore, lives on the seventh floor and said his main worry was his music equipment. “I had my music on my laptop,” Hines said. “That’s my job — to DJ.”

Hines said he thinks the building was faulty from the beginning. He said the elevator was inspected for operation issues during the first two weeks of classes.

“I don’t think we should have moved in,” said Hines.

History sophomore Arafat Yates is a music producer who lives on the seventh floor.

Yates stores his equipment in his room. His pride and joy, “Alexinah,” a Roland Sampler essential to his beat making, was his biggest concern.

“I didn’t grab her, because I didn’t think it was real, man. Alexinah probably died in there. I’m gonna miss my boo.”

Residential Life staff announced at the Miller-Morgan briefing that the eighth and ninth floors will remain evacuated until a full damage assessment is completed.

Eagleson Hall was built in 1968 for nearly $1.2 million. The 84,000 sq. ft dormitory was renovated in 1996, and again in 2004 with N.C. state bond money.

Over $6 million in state bonds were allocated for the renovation, which included $500,000 in sprinkler system repairs.