A flooded office building shut down several business yesterday only hours after the end of the Christmas holiday.

Drenched office workers and firefighters struggled to cover up valuable computers before soaked ceiling tiles gave way under inches of water that saturated the carpets on upper floors of Par-la-Vile Place.

A suspected water heater leak occurred sometime between 2 p.m. Boxing Day and 7.30 a.m. yesterday when it was discovered.

A Consolidated Group of Companies employee told The Royal Gazette that a co-worker was in on Wednesday and saw nothing.

But one of the building's occupants discovered an inch or more of water covering the carpets, water raining from the ceiling and smashed ceiling tiles on the floor at about 7.30 a.m. yesterday.

Five fire personnel arrived and summoned Par-la-Vile Place's superintendent Mike Barany. Together, they found a busted water heater and shut down the main pipes.

The Island's largest cleaning companies, including Pro-tone, Town & Country and Just Cleaners, were called to suck out the water.

Fire Division officer John Pacheco said the recovery process would be "long and drawn out".

Despite office workers laying down sheets of heavy plastic, water still damaged binders of office material including the architectural plans of Cooper & Gardener on the second floor.

Despite the source of the flood being shut down by fire-fighters, water continued to gush down the elevator shaft and soak ceiling tiles till they crumbled.

As the cleaners finished toward the end of the day and all the water was sucked out, office managers said they would have to wait for a damage assessment from their respective insurance companies.

Each company has its own insurance company as part of the condominium-type ownership agreement.

A soaked Cooper and Gardener Architects partner, Stuart Pearson, said: "We really don't know (the cost) yet. There's a lot of damage."

First Atlantic Commerce, on the first floor, was up-and-running within hours of calling their disaster relief team at Fort Knox, Southside.

First Atlantic's information technology consultants, ICS, and Fort Knox workers, stuffed themselves into a room at the Fort Knox complex and by the end of the day, had built an operations centre for First Atlantic Commerce.

Fort Knox CEO Troy Symonds told The Royal Gazette: "This was our first real test. We've had simulations but this was our moment of truth.

"Everything certainly fell into place. You ask if if was easy - it's hard to say. There's always a tension when people are losing money but the team worked together very well."

He added that First Atlantic's executive and operations staff would be at work tomorrow morning.

Back at Par-la-Vile Place, an unidentified good Samaritan offered to buy office workers coffee as they salvaged computer parts.

But several hitches slowed the recovery process, such as Bermuda Telephone Company workers abandoning the clean-up effort early into the day.

Cooper & Gardener Architects partner, John Gardener, said the BTC workers told him the area would have to be dry before they can start work but everyone else continued despite the water. He said he has had a "hard time" contacting them since.

"And you can quote me on that," said a drenched Mr. Gardener, bits of ceiling tile decorating his hair.