Corroded pipes cause 2nd flood at VG hospital

The Bethune Building at Capital Health's Victoria General site was without water on Monday following another flood in the aging building.

InNovember, the building sustained extensive water damage.

By Monday morning, water had soaked part of the first floor and flooded into the basement. Both the November flood and the one this week were caused by the same problem.

The Bethune Building, an old nursing residence, once had sinks in each room. About 15 years ago those sinks were torn out and the pipes were capped. In both Bethune floods, the caps corroded and popped off releasing a torrent of water within the walls.

Sunday's flood was discovered around 1:30 in the morning. Staff aren't sure how long the water had been flowing.

John Gillis, Capital Health spokesperson, said the damage this time is not as bad as in November. At that time, engineers feared it was just a matter of time before more caps let go.

"I've been involved in three of four floods and this is by far the worst. There's quite a bit of damage here," said Steven MacIsaac, a supervisor for engineering services for the health authority, during an interview last November.

The water is off, as the health authority pushes to finish the repairs to the building's plumbing.

"They were about 80 per cent done that work, before Sunday," said Gillis. "That should isolate some of those. It won't completely solve the problem, but the reason we shut off the water today is to finish the remainder of that."

The Bethune Building houses about 400 administrative staff. Staff can still access the building, but they were asked to work from home or at another site if possible.

The cost of repairing damage from the November flood will be more than $1million.

The most recent damage will add to that total.

The building is set to reopen on Tuesday.