Broken Pipe Damage Tally is $1.3M in for Pennsylvania School

A broken pipe that flooded Erie County’s Office of Children and Youth last November has cost nearly $1.3 million to fix .

While insurance covered new carpeting and other repairs, the busted pipe revealed that the county needed to replace the outdated plumbing and heating system in the 85,000-square-foot office building. The county has paid nearly $570,000, while insurance covered more than $726,000.

The pipe broke over the Thanksgiving break, flooding the offices. Walls had to be cut open for some of the plumbing to be replaced, adding to the cost of the jobs. The pipe that broke was attached to a valve that fed a heating radiator.

The repairs were finished in February, but county officials tell the Erie Times-News that bills continued to come in for months.