Quick action by county custodians helped stave off extensive damage at the Gloucester Library following a water line problem there last Wednesday night, public works director Garrey Curry said.

Library director Diane Rebertus said about a third of the library was closed to the public, including the computer room, children’s room, study rooms, teen room and about a quarter of the library’s book collection.

Librarian Marge Jones said Wednesday morning that the children’s room and some other portions toward the rear of the main library were still inaccessible, but the well-used computer room had been reopened. Jones said library officials expected that the closed portions of the facility to be reopened for public use later Wednesday or today.

Mike O’Donnell, a spokesman for PuroClean, a Williamsburg-based emergency restoration service brought in to clean up some of the water damage, said last Thursday he anticipated the clean-up efforts to last at least four days. But how fast carpets dry out—and if any wall damage was uncovered—would determine how long the clean-up would take, O’Donnell said.

The clean-up was so extensive that PuroClean, which owns some equipment, had to rent even more water-drying equipment from Emergency Rental & Supply, another Williamsburg business. Ron Stolen, national director of sales and marketing for ERS, said his company furnished a number of large blowers and an industrial-strength dehumidifier to help eliminate the water problem in the library.

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