Heavy October rain in Manoa has again caused water damage at the University of Hawi'i's Hamilton Library, this time gushing through three floors, wrecking ceiling tiles and soaking nearly 1,000 books.

Most of the damage occurred on the library's second floor, where ceiling tiles crumpled because of water that gushed through like "waterfalls at an amusement park," said Kyle Hamada, a conservation technician at the library.

A rapid disaster response team went into action Sunday morning after it was discovered that water was pooling on three floors of the library. Workers scooped up buckets of water as others attempted to remove books from the shelves, out of the water's path.

Portions of the library are now covered by tarps and buckets have been placed where water leaked through.

An estimated 1,000 books from the European history and literature collections are now being housed in the library's Preservation Department, where fans and dehumidifiers are drying them out, library officials said.

"We believe we were able to prevent serious damage because (library workers) were able to respond so quickly," said Gregg Takayama, UH-Manoa spokesman.

Library officials say few books were permanently damaged during the rain. Most will be OK once they've dried.

Contractors have been working on the library's roof since mid-August, and repairs are not expected to be completed for another month and a half, said Alan Grosenheider, acting head librarian.

Debris from the repair work apparently clogged drain pipes during the weekend rain, causing water to pool on the ceiling and trickle from the third floor down to the first floor.

Officials are assessing damage.

Today's water damage comes almost a year after a similar roof leak hit the third floor in November 2007.

At the time, officials had to move tens of thousands of books and rare documents from the third floor to safer locations after heavy rain leaked through the roof.

Dozens of rare Tibetan scrolls were among the items seriously damaged by water.

A massive October 31, 2004, flood ravaged the library basement. The library suffered more than half of the $82 million in damage that occurred in the Halloween flood.

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.

The library's vast one-acre basement remains empty, and officials were planning a $30 million reconstruction project.

The 2004 flood displaced offices, faculty and students who used to call the basement home.

The Library and Information Science program, which oversees about 150 graduate students, was one of the largest occupants. The basement also housed the library's collection services and the government documents and maps collection.

In February 2006, UH received about $21.2 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover damage.

Of that, $13.2 million was for replacing thousands of books, maps, government documents and historic photos destroyed or damaged.