Water Damage Madison - Luxury Condo in Tampa Has Sprinkler flood

12/10/2014 (Permalink)

TAMPA --- Fire sprinkler systems may be your best friend in a fire, but when one breaks open on the top floor off a condo like it did in the Stovall luxury condominium tower off of Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa, everyone below gets soaked.

On November 4, thousands of gallons of water cascaded down the stairwells and through the ceilings of the expensive hi-rise condominium project after a worker who was about to fall off the scaffolding, grabbed a sprinkler pipe to steady himself and broke it.

A Tampa Fire Department captain, one of the first responders there, said the water pouring down the staircase into the lobby looked like the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride at Disney World. Water was pouring off of the chandelier in the lobby and flowing out the door.

The Stovall Luxury hi-rise has 22 stories with two units to a floor. Gloria Giunta, resident and president of the condominium association said she was away the morning of the incident but became aware of it when her cell phone started ringing and didn’t stop for a long time. When she returned home she found the place full of firemen had already in action responding to the problem.

Firefighters quickly accessed the situation and headed to the mechanical room to turn of the sprinkler pump, but so much water had already been dumped onto the 11th floor where the accident happened that it continued to flow down the staircase and into the other units for hours. Floors, ceilings, and the electrical system were compromised and the building had to be evacuated.

SERVPRO, a disaster recovery company that handles thousands of events like this each year was called in to handle the problem. They made sure water was shut off to the building and set up blowers and dehumidifiers to began drying out the building and stabilizing conditions.

Meanwhile the residents were evacuated including Don DeFossett chairman of the Tampa Sports Authority and Bruce Sampson, former president of the University of Tampa. Most of them moved into a nearby hotel while their units are inspected and repaired.

Many of the units could be lived in, but electricity to the building is still shut off a month later because the electrical system sustained substantial damage. The elevators are not working and residents have to walk up and down the stairs to get to their units. Some units sustained only minimal damage while others will have considerable repair to do to replace warped floors and wet drywall.

At this point no one is exactly sure how the repairs will be paid for. The repairs will cost millions of dollars. The worker who caused the problem was not injured.