When Keith Dell’Aquila returned to his room in Morrison Hall the Sunday before last, he found his stuff rearranged and wet.

The don of Morrison’s Landsberg-Lewis house, Dell’Aquila soon learned that several sprinklers had gone off that weekend, flooding the bottom three floors of University College’s Morrison Hall residence, including his.

Morrison Hall, a 13-story 274-bed undergraduate dorm, opened last fall.

According to the U of T police incident report, the flood was unleashed on the afternoon of Oct. 21, when a student broke the sprinkler head in their room by hanging clothes on it. Several other sprinklers were subsequently set off, on the first, second, and third floors of the residence.

Water even went down the elevator shafts, damaging some mechanisms, and forcing students to take the stairs that weekend.

Twenty rooms were affected, and 17 students have been temporarily relocated into other University College residence rooms, according to UC dean of students Nona Robinson.

“We anticipate that at the very latest they should be back in their rooms by the end of next week,” Robinson said. She commended the efforts of porters, dons, and residence staff in dealing with the situation, as well as students’ understanding.

Students have formed an online support group of sorts on Facebook, called “I Survived Hurricane Morrison,” where they share photos and anecdotes. “I didn’t realize how high the 12th floor was until the elevators stopped working,” writes one member.

Robinson, however, did not say what would happen to the student who caused the incident, or whether hanging clothes on the sprinkler was against the rules.

“We’ll probably be putting up stickers next to the sprinkler heads,” she said in an e-mail. “In the meantime, dons have been talking to students to ensure they’re aware of the potential for setting off fire safety equipment.”

Dell’Aquila, meanwhile, is still living in a room at UC’s Sir Dan’s residence. He said “donning from a distance” is a new experience, since he no longer has day-to-day interactions with his residents, who have been “scattered” across UC’s three residence buildings.