A pipe failure caused rainwater to flood multiple areas across three floors at IU Health Bloomington Hospital and prompted some areas to be evacuated of patients — but hospital officials said no patients, visitors or employees were harmed.
Some patients were moved to unaffected areas of the hospital, while some patients also were transferred to other facilities, an unidentified spokesperson said via email Tuesday. The hospital declined to answer questions about how many patients or which areas were affected, how much water escaped and what damage the facility sustained.
A video that was shared on social media shows ceiling damage, water pooling across a hallway floor and what looks like patient rooms. Some footage shows towels spread on the floor and the videographer’s shoes sloshing through water. The Herald-Times could not independently verify that the video was shot in the IU Health Bloomington hospital. A hospital spokeswoman said she also could not verify that the footage was shot in the hospital but said she had seen the footage and acknowledged that it looked like the local hospital.
The unidentified spokesperson said vial email that visitor restrictions had been lifted, but some patient procedures had been postponed.
“We’re working closely with those patients to prioritize rescheduling,” the spokesperson said. “Most hospital operations continue, with additional services reopening as restoration efforts progress.
The spokesperson directed people to the hospitals’ Facebook page for updates.
The hospital said Tuesday that the cause of the pipe failure had not yet been determined. Many hospitals use internal stormwater drainage systems, where roof drains connect to pipes running inside the building. Those systems can fail because of blockage, damage or other issues and allow rainwater to enter interior spaces.
The region got hit by multiple rounds of severe weather Monday afternoon into early Tuesday. Storms brought heavy rain and strong winds, and officials issued tornado warnings.
IU Health opened the $557 million campus on the city’s east side in 2021 after moving its operations from the city’s west side, where the city now plans to establish the new Hopewell neighborhood.
Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Broken pipe floods IU Health hospital; patients moved
Reporting by Boris Ladwig, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
