Water main break floods basement of Penrose Hospital

A water main break early Sunday morning flooded the basement of Penrose Hospital.

People were left to dry out following the break, which happened about 4:30 a.m. this morning just outside the main building of the hospital, ­­­­2222 N. Nevada Ave., in front of Cascade Avenue. The pharmacy has been re-opened and the steralization area will also soon be re-opened.

Crews worked for two hours before water could be shut off, leaving 6-10 inches of standing water in the basement, according to Chris Valentine, spokesman for Penrose-St. Francis Health Services. A vertical crack was later found running down the 8-inch pipe, Valentine said.

The basement contained a pharmacy and medical records, though Valentine said no records of medications were damaged in the incident as they were not stored on the ground.

Water service was also re-routed elsewhere in the hospital, meaning those above the basement were not affected by the break, he said.

Still, he said the water has left an extensive clean-up process that will require replacing the floors and drywall affected by the break.

“It’s going to be a long process since the water is along the entire basement,” Valentine said.