Let this be a lesson in playing soccer in dormitory hallways.

A fire sprinkler head was knocked off by a soccer ball kicked by a student on the second floor of West Quad's Wenley House at about 8 p.m. last night, triggering the rest of the sprinkler system and flooding the ground, first and second floors.

Three resident advisors and 82 students were affected. Some had made their own arrangements to stay with a friend for the night. Others were going to be put into one of three places. Some were placed in the two double rooms in Cambridge House of West Quad that are available year-round for emergency situations, and others in the nine available rooms in the Michigan League's hotel. Arrangements were also made to send about 20 students to the Holiday Inn Express near Briarwood Mall.

"We have no idea how wet our rooms are," Kinesiology senior Alex Eversmeyer said. Eversmeyer left his room, grabbing his wallet, phone and keys, when the fire alarm went off. He expected it to be a standard drill, but he realized the severity of the situation when he saw water dripping from his first-floor window.

The flood "had a lot of impact on a lot of people who didn't ask to have their nights disrupted in this way," Housing spokesman Alan Levy said.

At least one student's computer was destroyed. LSA freshman Julio Dominguez's roommate called him and delivered the devastating news.

A catastrophe recovery company arrived at the scene to extract the water and mitigate further damage.

The University will cover the expenses of the hotel stays. Levy said he has to wait for the evaluation of the damages before providing an estimate of the total costs.

The University's Risk Management Office will file an insurance claim for the University's property and the personal property of residents. Usually, the University does not cover damage to personal property, Levy said.

At the scene were the director of housing, an associate director of Housing, a head staff member of Residential Education and security personnel. The West Quad building staff was also involved in minimizing the impact of the flood.

Until last night, housing administration has had a "nice, quiet year," Levy said.

Wensley residents will not be able to return until the electricians can do a safety check.

Dean of Students Susan Eklund, who oversees assistance in emergency situations, has been notified and probably will let professors know some students may miss class or need extra time to complete work.

"This is obviously not a terrific time of the year for this to happen," Levy said.

The new sprinkler system was installed last summer in the dorms as part of a $50-million investment in fire and life safety enhancements.

This is the second incident with the new sprinkler systems. The first incident occurred last year in South Quad, also the result of a resident "inappropriately using a football or soccer ball in the hallway," Levy said.