DENVER -- Sixty residents who were displaced by a broken water pipe are eagerly waiting to return to their apartment building on Lincoln Street and Bayaud Avenue.

Firefighters evacuated the residents, who are senior citizens or disabled residents, Monday night because the building's basement flooded and left them without electricity, heat and water.

Residents at the Westgate Tower Apartments said the evacuation was a scary experience since they had already gone to bed and then woke up to the loud noise of firetrucks and people banging on their doors.

"I had just gone to bed, and they knocked on all the doors and said, 'You have a half-hour to get up,'" said Phyllis Davis.

Richard Herrera said he was in the elevator when the power went out at about 8:30 p.m.

"It was scary. It just dropped, slammed 14, 11 feet and then the first-floor doors opened, and I just got out and stayed out," Herrera said.

Crews spent Tuesday morning trying to track down the leak and make repairs as they went along.

"We were very, very fortunate that the leak was in the bottom of the building because had it been upstairs, we would be talking about a totally different story than we are right now," said Jim White with Volunteers of America.

The building sustained some damage. Four feet of water flooded the basement, ruining the elevator system and damaging hundreds of documents.

But the concern is for the residents and making sure they have everything they need.

"I didn't bring a comb. I didn't bring a toothbrush. I forgot everything important," Davis said.

The power is back on in the building, but managers said they can't get people back into the building until the elevator system is fixed.

Crews said that the leak occurred in the system used to pump water to the upper units in the case of a fire.

Officials plan on having a meeting at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday with all the residents to give them an update on the situation. But managers anticipate they will have to find a place for residents to stay at least one more night and, hopefully, have them back home on Thursday.