ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Clean up is underway at Lambert St. Louis International Airport after a water pipe burst early this morning leading to some flooding in parts of Concourse C in Terminal 1.
Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge says the incident happened around 6:50am in the ceiling area above gate C2. She says passengers were in the impacted area when the issue happened and they all got out quickly.
Hamm-Niebruegge tells us crews shut off the water minutes later, but there was still about three inches of standing water in the concourse, shutting down gates C2-C12.
American Airlines was the main carrier impacted.
Hamm-Niebruegge says there were some minor delays for a time because officials had to reshuffle gates based on where there was standing water. Fortunately, there were no flight cancellations because of the flooding.
Airport workers are busing passengers from gate C2 to C28 or whatever part of the concourse is the most convenient drop off point for passengers. We’re told that to board buses, passengers have to actually go outside the concourse onto the tarmac where they are then bused to other parts of the concourse.
No injuries are being reported, and Hamm-Niebruegge hopes to have the impacted parts of Concourse C reopened by sometime this afternoon. She attributes the broken pipe to aging infrastructure in an older terminal. Crews will evaluate the concourse area where the flooding happened to make sure there is no residual damage or mold issues.