Flood shuts down Lakeland City Hall - WBRC FOX6 News - Birmingham, AL

(WMC-TV) – A typically organized Lakeland city hall looked very disorganized Sunday when a flood forced crews to move everything in the building.

Lakeland City Manager Chris Thomas says the building's water heater that exploded sometime over the weekend. 

When an employee came to work Sunday there was 1 to 2 inches of water all over the floor. 

"Been an 8 hour day so far but it's just been a very very bad situation," said Thomas.

Thomas says every baseboard will need to be replaced.  

"We don't know yet if we're going to have to replace carpet so it's a long process and that's what happens when those water heaters explode," Thomas explained.

Luckily, Bartlett, Germantown and Shelby County donated fans to start the drying process. 

"So that was a big big help in our neighboring cities," Thomas stated.

City employees are scheduled to report to work tomorrow but it could be It could be two weeks before their workplace is back to normal. 

"City hall is still operating and we're gonna take care of business," Thomas said.  "But it's definitely going to sidetrack us for just a little bit,"

Monday's Lakeland School Board meeting will be moved to the I. H. Clubhouse.  Insurance adjusters will have to estimate the cost of the damage.

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