Clogged Toilet Floods Government Center

The Santa Cruz County Government Center, at 701 Ocean St., had a pipe burst from a clogged toilet on the fourth floor Friday evening, damaging the building as water flowed down lower-level floors, said sheriff's Sgt. Esther Beckman.

“It caused severe damage, including damage to the Sheriff's Office and various other county offices,” Beckman said.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shut down power to the building around 7 p.m. Friday, after the water had been free-flowing to lower-floor levels for around 30 minutes.

The building's power remains off as fire crew and sheriff's deputies squeegee water from the floors, according to Beckman, who said water was “coming down like a rainstorm.”

Beckman said the civil division was affected from the water, including all records, and that computers were pulled off line in attempts of preventing further damage from water that's seeping from the ceiling.

The extent of the damage has yet to be determined, and it's unclear whether the building will be open on Monday.

“It looks like it's going to take quite a bit of work to get the operations of various county facilities that were damaged to be what they were on Friday before this happened,” she said.