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Thursday, October 19, 2000
City Hall tallies its storm
damage
By Sidney Schuhmann
Reporter-News Staff Writer
Bob Lindley first noticed the
water dripping near his computer in his office at City Hall.
The office where the city’s
design engineer works often leaks. But he knew the storm Tuesday
was different when a chunk of the ceiling fell on his desk.
“We just had one big catastrophe,”
he said.
Most who works on the second
floor of City Hall, 555 Walnut St. would agree. Computers were
shut down in many offices, halting much of city government’s
business.
City Manager Roy McDaniel, whose
own office was damaged, said he did not know the overall cost
of City Hall’s damage, whicha are still being tabulated
for damage and repairs.
On Wednesday, the building was
drying out with the help of giant fans and dehumidifiers on the
second floor and in the basement, the places that were hit worst.
Water was pumped from both areas as well as from the roof after
Tuesday’s heavy downpour, which dumped approximately 7 inches
on downtown in about two hours.
Crumbling ceiling tiles were
collected in trash cans, their empty spaces in the ceiling revealing
a mesh of wires. Furniture was moved to hallways while wet carpet
dried.
City employees began worrying
about the water leaks when a virtual waterfall was discovered
in the closet of McDaniel’s office Tuesday. He said the
roof was good, but the water was just too much for the drains
to handle at one time.
“Normal rain is not a problem,”
he said.
The engineering office where
Lindley works was one of the most damaged areas. Lindley said
he knew serious problems would arise when the rain was coming
down in thick sheets outside.
Employees covered computers and
desks with trash bags and tried to sop up the wet floors.
“Everything got wet,”
Lindley said. “But we didn’t have anything destroyed.”
Contact staff writer Sidney
Schuhmann at 676-6721 or schuhmanns@abinews.com.
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