Water in basement closes Oak Park's Maze Library

Oak Park's Maze Library, 845 Gunderson Ave., was closed Saturday for cleanup after the weekend rainfall that left much of the Chicagoland area flooded.

"When the staff arrived Saturday morning for work at about 9:30 a.m. we noticed water coming up through the floor on the lower level," Assistant Branch Manager Ben Iglar-Mobley said. "The restrooms are on the lower level and we can't open if there's no restroom access and it didn't seem safe because there was about an inch of water."

Iglar-Mobely said there was no sewage, but that the carpet was soaked and the water was "creeping" toward the elevator.

Maintenance workers arrived on the scene and vacuumed out the water and turned on the fans to help dry the floor.

"The water was contained in the meeting room, however we do have five Internet computers down there but we shut them down and there was no damage to them," he said.

Branch Manager Nadine Thompson said the library has had some water seepage before, but not at the level of flooding that occurred over the weekend.

"We're a lot luckier than some of the households around here. We're not sure where it's coming from - our maintenance people are looking into it. This lower level was a new addition when the branch was remodeled two years ago," Thompson said.

The only damage was to the linoleum that buckled.

"We didn't lose any books or equipment," Thompson said.