Rain puts court books in jeopardy

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 28, 2006

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TALLAHASSEE - Besides the millions of dollars in damage suffered statewide as a result of violent Christmas Day weather, the Florida Supreme Court building was drying out Wednesday from heavy rains that dampened its basement where hundreds of valuable books are kept.

Nearly 6 inches of rain fell between 8 p.m. Sunday and 10 a.m. Monday, the most rainfall on Christmas Day in Tallahassee since 1897, according to the National Weather Service.

"It takes a couple of days for the moisture in the ground to work its way through," court spokeswoman Jackie Hallifax said Wednesday. "It's seeping through one area of a wall."

Some bookcases were damaged in the court's basement storage areas, where hundreds of heavy volumes of statutes from all 50 states, along with journals and other government documents, are kept.

It's a part of the building that was scheduled for repair to prevent flooding, but a $2.5-million legislative measure to pay for it was vetoed by Gov. Jeb Bush earlier this year.

The court sits adjacent to the Capitol, but decidedly downhill and almost always catches the brunt of rainfall that pours off the 22-story Capitol.

Bush spokeswoman Alia Faraj said Wednesday that the veto reflected overall priorities.

The court has already lost 11,646 books because of mold damage from the leaks, an official said. The replacement cost of 1,632 statute books is estimated at $22,391.