Water Coming Up Through The Floor In The House We're Renting, Crew Telling Us They "aren't At Liberty" To Tell Us What They Found - But That It's "bad. Really Bad".

Hi all! I am finding myself in a tricky situation, and I want to know what my rights are. I'm including every detail I can think of in hopes that one of you legal geniuses can help us out.

I am a tenant in North Carolina. I live with my partner and our roommate/roommate's girlfriend. A couple of days ago, my roommates and I noticed that some water was coming up through the laminate flooring in the kitchen. I'm talking full-on seeping up through the panels and pooling in puddles. At first we thought it may have been the fridge or the dishwasher; upon closer inspection, we realized it was actually bubbling up under the fake wood laminate panels. We contacted the landlord through the resident portal (the property is managed by some huge company), and they sent out a crew that set up some industrial fans and a dehumidifier (piped directly into the kitchen sink). The crew leader told us that they would send some more guys out the next day.

The next day, a different crew of contractor-types showed up to take a look. They ended up tearing out the entire kitchen floor, some of the living room, and the baseboards under the kitchen cabinets. Apparently, there was a TON of water underneath the floors, in the walls, etc. Just looking briefly under the cabinets, it is completely saturated and musty. After asking the workers what caused it, we were vaguely told that the outside spigot was putting water into the house (we have not used the hose since living here).

Keep in mind that it never gets much colder than 35°, even in the dead of winter. We take good care of everything and are out of the house much of the time. This house is very much a "cardboard box" in terms of construction -- we're talking single story, plywood and particle board everything. We have already had door handles come off (they were glued on), the toilets have backed up more than once, so on and so forth.

Here's where the legal part comes in: we asked them what was going on and the workers said that they "weren't at liberty to tell us" (they said it sympathetically, as if they wanted to but genuinely were forbidden from doing so), and that all they could say was that it was BAD and they need to contact the property management company/landlord to let them know what's going on before anything further is done. They did tell us that they put down a bunch of "fungal powder" (I can't really remember what he said, he may have said antimicrobial but he did tell us he was putting down powder of some sort). They also told us that we absolutely cannot turn off the dehumidifier, and that we could not turn off an "air scrubber" that they set up after removing the flooring. They also told us that we could not - under any circumstances - turn back on the large drying fans that were placed the day before.

They're coming back tomorrow, and they told us they would need to get a plumber out to find out the cause of the water, but my main concern is why they "could not" and would not disclose the issue/their findings to us, the tenants living here. I am assuming they found evidence of mold or some other damage that would render the house unsafe to live in. It's already hard feeling so powerless in our own home environment, with nameless talking heads sending random crews unannounced to tear up our kitchen and living room -- but to be intentionally left in the dark doesn't seem right. On top of this, the giant commercial fans and dehumidifiers have been running off of the electricity that we pay for. So not only is there some kind of mystery problem, but our floors are completely torn up, we can't use the kitchen, the house now reeks of mildew and we're essentially paying to power construction equipment.

Am I allowed to know what's going on in the house I am renting? Have we been breathing black mold or something? And is it reasonable to think we should not have to pay a full month's rent when this is the state of the house we're renting?

TLDR: renting a house that suffered water damage, and am being told by the workers that they are not allowed to disclose the nature of the problem with us, the tenants. Also concerned about living in an unsafe construction zone for potentially days or weeks with no compensation.