Broken Pipe Floods Montgomery County Courthouse

A broken pipe on the fourth floor has led to flooding at the Montgomery County courthouse in Independence.

Photos of the damage were taken by Andy Taylor of the Montgomery County Chronicle and posted on the newspaper's Facebook page. 

A waterline apparently ruptured sometime Friday night. 

The maintenance director discovered water cascading down steps Saturday morning. Taylor says the flooding caused extensive damage bringing down ceiling tiles, hitting computers and other office equipment. 

Damage is estimated at $100,000 or more. 

He says hard copy records that dated back to 1869 may have been destroyed as they were stored on the fourth floor.