Backed-up pipes flood Hall of Justice

The superintendent at the San Francisco Hall of Justice said backed-up pipes on the fifth floor caused water to flow into a hallway Friday morning but that it has since been cleaned up.

According to building superintendent Scott Cline:

“There wasn’t feces all the way down the hallway.”

Building engineers and custodians were alerted to the stoppage around 9 a.m. and arrived on the fifth floor to find water on the floor.

The fifth floor still serves as office space for some employees with the San Francisco Police Department although most police administrative personnel, including Chief Greg Suhr, have moved to the newly constructed Public Safety building.

Cline said everything in the vicinity of the stoppage has been cleaned and disinfected and will be cleaned and disinfected again this weekend.

He said fans and dehumidifiers are set up to ensure that the carpet, which was just cleaned, dries in time for business hours on Monday.

Cline said stoppages are frequent in the top two floors of the building, floors six and seven, which house the county jail.

He said inmates have been known to plug up the building’s system with shirts and other debris.

The superintendent couldn’t say exactly what caused the stoppage Friday.