POST FALLS, Idaho. — The Post Falls Library suffered major water damage due to the burst of a fire suppression line last month.Weeks later, library staff are still left picking up the pieces.The library has over 80,000 books and believes to have lost roughly one eighth of their collection in a flood caused by the extreme cold earlier this month according to Alexa Eccles, Director of Community Network Library.”I’m surprised by how emotional seeing all of this damage is,” Eccles said.Staff were in the building when the fire suppression line broke and watched as the entire line drained into the library. This caused extensive damage to the walls, outlets, carpet, books, and furniture. This damage, according to Eccles, will take time to fix.”It will take significant time for us to get our libraries restored. Again 80,000 items we have to move, we have to recarpet, drywall, furnishings, we have a tremendous amount of work to get done,” Eccles said.The library in Athol, Idaho, suffered a similar problem when a water line broke and flooded their library during the same cold stretch in January. The Post Falls Library will be closed for at least four to six months as they assess all that needs to be fixed. There is no planned date of reopening.Eccles says 10,000 books and other items were damaged in the flooding, and with each piece estimated at $40, that’s $400,000 of estimated damage to the library’s collection.The library is insured, but many items in the collections were one of a kind and are unable to be replaced.The children’s section in the library suffered the most extensive damage, with many of the toys and puppets being unsalvageable due to the water.The community has reached out and asked how they can help in this time of need, and Eccles says she is very thankful for the support.”We still don’t have all the answers, but once we do, we will be specific and reach out to the community to let them know how they can help out. But we really appreciate the patience and kindness and generosity that this community is known for,” Eccles said.Eccles says that she is trying to look on the bright side of this situation and is excited to welcome in new carpets to the library for the first time in over 20 years. Undoubtably, she will be more thrilled when the library is reopened to the public.
