Courthouse suffers severe water damage

The Jewel of the Plains suffered greatly last week when the artic storm caused a water leak that flooded parts of the Donley County Courthouse.

County Judge John Howard said it appears a fresh-air intake dampener failed to close properly allowing subzero air to enter one of the courthouse’s units, causing copper water lines in air coil to develop multiple leaks.

The leak in the unit in the 1890 building’s attic likely began Sunday night or early Monday morning February 14 or 15, the judge said. Due to a government holiday on the February 15, the damage was not discovered until Tuesday, February 16.

By that time, the leak had virtually destroyed the second floor office of the county attorney above the courthouse entrance, and water had leaked into the vault of the first floor judge’s office, flooded the main corridor on the ground floor and entered the basement.

Water was also leaking from the ceiling of the courthouse entry way, forming a giant icicle and creating an ice flow down the main steps to the building.

On the second floor, 130-year-old pine floors buckled between the county attorney’s office and the district courtroom, and water flowed down the main staircase, ruining the finish on the wooden treads.

Frost on the inside of some of the windows in the building was as thick as a centimeter in some places, Howard said.
County workers turned off the water supply to the faulty unit and got as much of the water as possible out of the building. Howard said CarpetTech of Amarillo was called in to extract more water and set up dehumidifiers.

An insurance adjuster inspected the damage last Friday, and Howard said the county will likely wait until warmer weather to replace the unit, which will remain out of service until then.

The county has water detectors set up in several locations, but this leak occurred in just such a way that it missed setting off those alarms.

Howard said the damage is bad but that it can and will be repaired, and he said he is grateful that the damage was not worse.