Brand new Durham County courthouse flooded
DURHAM (WTVD) -- Durham County employees are preparing to work throughout the weekend to clean-up the brand new county courthouse. A water line break flooded four floors Friday, forcing officials to shut down the entire courthouse.
Around 500 court records were damaged by water. Durham County Public Information Officer Dawn Dudley said restoring those documents is the county's top priority right now. An outside company has been hired to do the work.
"Definitely, those who will be handling the freeze dry will be here [throughout the weekend]," said Dudley. "The Administrative Office of the Court, Durham County Government, we all have to be hands-on-deck right now trying now trying to rectify this issue."
A General Services Team made the discovery early Friday morning when they came in to open the building. The water was ankle deep in some places. The basement up to the third floor has damage. Those floors house traffic court and the magistrate offices.
The County says a cap broke off a waterline inside the newly built multi-million dollar facility which opened in February 2013 at 510 S. Dillard Street.
The County plans to reopen the courthouse Monday. They will be moving some courtrooms to empty rooms so services can resume next week.
