Erie County Social Services workers may find out Friday if some will be back in their regular offices next week after a sprinkler blew on Monday and flooded part of the Hens & Kelly building on Main Street.
The department store has been gone for decades but its former home at 478 Main has been leased to DSS for years and houses an array of offices, mostly children's services like CPS.
Social Services Commissioner Al Dirschberger says he is meeting with the building's owner Ellicott Development Friday to find out when the damaged space will be cleaned up.
"Some of the staff had to be moved out of the area where the water came down. But we were able to move them and it didn't hinder operations at all. Staff were great," Dirschberger said.
Some papers were soaked and had to be dried. There doesn't seem to be any damage to computers, Dirschberger said.
"We just basically had to move bodies so we were able to respond to community needs as we always do. And, the staff was very, very good at helping with that."
Dirschberger says he hasn't yet learned what made a sprinkler pipe blow out in the summer.
