Duke hospital now accepting patients by ambulance after flooding in Emergency Department

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- (Update) Duke University Hospital has lifted the diversion protocol for the Emergency Department and is accepting all EMS traffic.

In a statement, hospital officials said: "We extend our heartfelt thanks to area emergency medical services and neighboring hospitals that provided support over these past days as our teams worked to operationalize our Emergency Department after the Dec. 26 flooding."

Below is a previous report

Duke University Hospital hopes to fully restore services by the end of Tuesday due to last week's flooding that caused major problems.

It happened late Thursday evening when a chilled water pipe burst, sending water and debris flowing down the hallways of Duke's emergency room. There was also significant damage to radiology areas.

Duke is still redirecting patients being brought in by ambulance to nearby hospitals but is now open to normal walk-in traffic. However, it has made progress to ensure care continues

The hospital called the flooding "unprecedented."

"The flooding and damage was like nothing I've ever seen in 20 years in health care," Mary Martin, chief operating officer of Duke University Hospital, told ABC11. "I think the estimate is 200 square feet of building that was impacted. We are working diligently. We have over 200 contractors on site. I'm amazed at the progress they've made to date -- having the front of the ER open, one of our ED pods open. Again, it's just heroic."

Martin said the hospital hopes to be open to some ambulance traffic by Monday evening and fully open to ambulances by the end of the day on Tuesday.