Freezing temperatures cause flooding in Tucumcari hospital

Freedom New Mexico

Freezing temperatures were blamed for a wet mess at Tucumcari's Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital Thursday. A sprinkling system burst and flooded the emergency room.

Hospital Administrator Lance Labine said there were no injuries and no one was in the emergency room when the sprinkler broke.

“We had a lot of folks that pitched in and helped out, but we had a good bit of water. It was collecting up above the sheet rock and finally caved in. Nobody was back there when it happened and nobody was hurt or anything, so we're in good shape," Labine said. "We've cleaned all that up and the only real damage that we had was our ceiling tile, not the roof. The ceiling tile in the ward's room waiting area had to be torn out. We're replacing that. As far as any major damage, there's none,"

Labine said the hospital is still fully functional as repairs take place.

"We're operating our emergency room, really, out of our medical/surgical area, which is fine. We've actually gotten our legal and our risk management and licensure all involved in it. It's just a temporary thing for a couple of days. Hopefully we'll be back in the emergency room by Monday," Labine said.

The hospital's emergency department sees an average of 20 to 25 patients daily.