HARTFORD — Twenty-eight Trinity College students were taken to hospitals after the back porches on a college-owned house on Broad Street collapsed, hurling students and porch decks to the ground.

One moment it was a typical college party hosted by Kappa Sigma Fraternity members at 1713-15 Broad St. It was the first weekend back at school for returning students and friends were getting reacquainted. Then about 11:15 p.m. Saturday came the sound of cracking wood and a second later the screams and cries of the injured.

"I heard the wood cracking above me," said Julianna Leone, a Trinity senior from Chicago who was on the second-floor porch. "I looked at my friend and I thought to myself, this couldn't be happening. I just screamed. There was nothing we could do. We couldn't get off. We were just trapped there."

Leone said she was at the edge of the porch looking at the people below when the collapse occurred, the top porch collapsing onto the two porches below, bringing them down.

"They say I was hit in the back of the head by a giant piece of wood," Leone said Sunday from her dorm room, where she is recuperating. "I was lucky I didn't have a brain bleed or other injury. Everyone is really lucky."

That sentiment was echoed by rescuers and the father of another injured students.

It could have been a lot worse, fire Capt. Raul Ortiz said. "The fact that the injuries were not really that serious is a miracle," Ortiz said. Some of the injured were hit by heavy porch decks and those people are lucky to be alive, he said.

Injuries included broken bones, cuts and scrapes and concussions, Hartford Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley said early Sunday. None of the injuries were life-threatening, he said. Foley described most of the injured as "walking wounded." One of the injured declined medical treatment.

Kevin Pizzi of Hanover, Mass., visited the house briefly on Sunday morning to survey the scene. His daughter Isabella Pizzi, a junior, suffered a broken arm, cuts and scratches.

"She's lucky to be alive," Pizzi said. He left a moment later to take his daughter to the hospital to visit another friend who suffered a fractured pelvis. Pizzi also praised the Trinity students, many on the crew team, who stayed at the hospital until his daughter was released. "All those kids waited," he said.

Leone said she received staples to close the wound in the back of her head and is being monitored for a concussion.

"It was just a horrifying experience and the worst part was watching it happen," Leone said. "I thought to myself someone could be dead. It was so bad. There was so much chaos and blood."

Another injured student returned to the house Sunday to look for a shoe he lost during the collapse. He declined to give his name, but said he was on the second floor porch when it gave way. The area around his left eye was injured and badly bruised.

As fast as Hartford firefighters and police were on the scene, the initial rescues were performed by other Trinity students who were also at the party or nearby. They pulled the injured from the wreckage and lifted the heavy porch decks off people.

Others went to their apartments to get wet towels and water for the injured.

Nick Dibenedetto said he was headed to the party and paused briefly to chat with a friend on Crescent Street when he heard the sound of wood cracking. He looked toward the house and saw the third-floor porch floor drop.

"People were sliding off before it fell and then the second floor did the same thing," he said. "The people on the porch slid to the porch below, then that porch collapsed. The poles were collapsed in."

"It was like a domino effect," he said. That was followed by the screaming and yelling of the injured. "It was just mayhem," he said.

"I heard a cracking sound and I turned around, heard screams and saw the whole thing coming down," said Adam Keefe, a Trinity junior from Rhode Island. "It was completely out of nowhere."

On Sunday, Trinity College officials said most students had been discharged from the hospital but "a few remain for ongoing treatment." Trinity spokeswoman Kathy Andrews said Sunday that the college is investigating the collapse. "While this event is upsetting, we are grateful that none of the injuries are life-threatening," she said.

Inspectors from Hartford's licenses and inspections division went to the house early Sunday to survey the damage.

"The deck literally came detached from the house and collapsed," Foley said early Sunday. "Those were heavy old decks that came down. At this point, the third floor, you look and see a lot of the wood was rotted and very old and structurally not very sound and when you get 50 or 60 kids out there partying on the decks it's obviously a very dangerous situation."

City records show the house is owned by Trinity College, which purchased it in September 2011 for $300,000. A private management company oversees the house, Foley said. Although the building is not a fraternity house, members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity recently moved into it, students and the college said. Foley said five people live in the house.

Mayor Luke Bronin went to the scene Saturday night and said later "we are very lucky that there were no fatalities and no known critical injuries from what could have been a truly tragic incident."

Some members of Trinity's rowing teams were at the party and were among those injured, according to a post to the Trinity College women's rowing Facebook page.

"We have sustained a few injuries, but everyone is in good spirits," the post reads. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the whole community."

Foley said concerned parents can call campus security officials at 860-297-2222.