WODONGA Council will not know the extent of the storm damage to the city’s library stock for some time but staff are confident the building will re-open on Monday.
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Insurance assessors inspected the library and arts space yesterday.
The building flooded in Tuesday’s downpour that dumped hail and up to 20mm of rain on the city in 20 minutes.
About 30 people were evacuated as the ceiling fell “like a waterfall”, according to a witness.
The clean-up continued yesterday with the centre of the area cleared to allow the carpet to dry.
About half a dozen shelves of books were damaged.
Given the library has about 30,000 items, the council’s director of community development Debra Mudra was grateful not more books were damaged.
It was unknown whether all the wet books would have to be replaced.
Several computers and servers were damaged. Replacement parts have already been ordered.
“We’ll have a better idea once the assessors have had a look but it could take a couple of weeks for costings to come through,” Ms Mudra said.
She said the flood was a “freak accident”.
Emergency services have inspected the roof and found no problems with it.
It is understood drains became blocked due to the sheer volume of hail, forcing water to infiltrate the library.
Ms Mudra said previous repairs to the building had held up well in this downpour.
“It couldn’t have been avoided,” she said.
“The guttering was cleaned recently as part of a regular maintenance program.
“It’s disappointing but once it’s cleaned up it will be back to our fantastic, beautiful library.”
Most library programs have been cancelled until the library re-opens on Monday.
Some, such as children’s story- time, are being held elsewhere, including The Cube.
We’ll have a better idea once the assessors have had a look but it could take a couple of weeks for the costings to come through.
DEBRA MUDRA
