This post was updated Oct. 18 at 12:04 p.m.

A flood started at the west end of Portola Plaza near Kerckhoff Hall on Thursday morning after a water line broke.

Water began flowing out of a large opening near the parking spots on Portola Plaza outside Kerckhoff Hall shortly before noon. The water then began to flow down the steps between Ackerman Union and Engineering V, leading the water to make its way down to Gateway Plaza outside the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. Water appeared to flow as far as the UCLA Police Department building on Westwood Plaza.

Private security for UCLA has blocked off the stairs connecting Gateway Plaza to Portola Plaza. Some students reported difficulty driving to campus Thursday.

At around 12:40 p.m., a facilities manager outside the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science requested that sandbags be brought to the site of the flood.

A UCLA Facilities vehicle with sandbags then arrived at Gateway Plaza at around 12:50 p.m. Facilities management staff tried to vacuum water that had flooded into Engineering V and sweep water outside away from Ackerman Union.

Facilities staff in Engineering VI expressed concern that water was dripping into an electric room – labeled as Telecom 139. Staff outside the room and an adjacent lab tried to pour sand to stop the water flow before covering the electrical equipment with plastic around 1:17 p.m.

A sinkhole developed in the parking lot between the Ackerman Union and Engineering V after concrete broke. As of 1:25 p.m., the Daily Bruin was unable to confirm plans for repairing the pavement.

Fourth-year computational biology student Stephanie Trinh said she was glad to not have to go to any classes during the flooding.

“I’ve seen when it was raining heavy in previous years, and I know the campus is not really built for rain because of all the stairs and hills and all that, but it’s just pretty shocking,” Trinh said. “I’m very curious about what happened.”

In a statement posted on Bruin Safe Online, Tylor Headrick – an emergency management specialist – told students to avoid the southern entrance to the Ackerman Union and the north entrance to Engineering VI.

“At approximately 12:25 PM, a water line between Ackerman Student Union and Engineering 5 broke, sending water down the steps by Ackerman and Westwood Blvd,” they said in the statement. “As of 1:00 PM the water has been shut off and Facilities Management are cleaning the area.”

However, even though Headrick initially said the pipe burst at 12:25 p.m., the flooding occurred as early as 11:59 a.m. An updated UCLA statement released later Thursday stated that the pipe burst at 11:55 a.m.

Contributing reports from Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon and Dylan Winward, Daily Bruin staff.