BOSTON -- A water leak forced residents to evacuate a five-story apartment building in Boston on Wednesday.

The leak apparently started on top floor of the Interfaith Housing complex on West Concord Street after a sprinkler cap burst around 9 a.m.

Officials were able to shut off all the water in the South End building but not before the leak drenched rooms and elevators shafts throughtout the complex.

Authorities believe the sprinkler cap burst due to all the recent cold weather.

Most residents were allowed back inside around 8 p.m., except for those in the center apartments which were directly in the line of water. Some 70 residents were forced out.

“The water was coming through the floors, the people were placed on MBTA buses and sent to a community center,” said Chief Paul Burke of the Boston Fire Department.

“They said that a pipe burst...I woke up around 9 and an alarm was going off and the place was flooded,” said Dorian Gulod, a holiday visitor.

The building flooded, and with electricity and heat cut off, the place eventually froze.

Water poured from windows, leaving a sheet of ice from the sixth floor down.

The elevators are still out of service and six apartments still have no heat. However, inspectors have given most residents the okay to re-enter the building.

The people who have not yet been let back in are staying in hotels Wednesday night. Three of those people were actually on vacation.

Property managers said they are aiming to have all of the apartments reopened by midday Thursday.

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