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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 2:35 p.m., Thursday, December 11, 2008

UH-Manoa's Hamilton Library dry this time

Advertiser Staff

Despite its past history of damage due to heavy rain, Hamilton Library on the University of Hawai'i's Manoa campus is tolerating the current storm well, said Gregg Takayama, UH-Manoa spokesman.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and have not had any leakage problems," Takayama said.

Heavy rain in October sent water gushing through three floors, wrecking ceiling tiles and soaking nearly 1,000 books.

Debris from the repair work apparently clogged drain pipes during the weekend rain in October, causing water to pool on the ceiling and cascade from the library's third floor down to the first floor.

In addition, the library continues to recover from damage caused in 2004 during flooding on Halloween.

That flood damaged about $34 million in rare documents, maps and books in the basement — more than 3 million items — and forced faculty, students and several departments to move.

But today's rain has not caused a problem, nor has the nearby Manoa Stream overflowed, Takayama said.

"We are monitoring the stream level — it's high but not a problem," Takayama said.