SYRACUSE -- Update, 5:30pm:
St. Joseph's has just re-opened it's emergency room to ambulances and has resumed normal operations.
The hospital had been on "internal disaster" since Monday morning after a sewer backup and flood.
Lab tests performed of the area came back negative, meaning the affected area has been completely disinfected.
The emergency room at St. Joseph's Hospital remains closed to ambulances right now following a sewer back-up Monday that flooded the E.R.
Deep cleaning is now underway in the affected area, which includes six rooms and eight patient beds. Some of the rooms need to be rebuilt and new drywall must be installed.
Environmental sampling of the area was done Monday and lab tests are now being conducted to ensure the area is completely disinfected and ready for patient care. St. Joseph's expects the test results no later than 5 p.m. today. If the results are negative, the hospital will resume normal operations and accept ambulances again.
For now though, ambulances are being diverted to other hospitals. St. Joe's is accepting walk-in patients.
Original story from Monday:
There's quite a mess to clean up in the emergency room at St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse. The ER is closed to ambulances and will likely remain closed until Tuesday due to a sewer back up that flooded part of the emergency room.
The trouble started around 8:30 a.m. when the sewer backed up, flooding six treatment rooms with eight beds. That's according to hospital spokeswoman Kerri Ganci. The ER has 35 beds in all.
Ganci tells CNY Central the hospital is now in the process of cleaning and disinfecting the rooms, and it's possible the ER could be back to full capacity sooner than Tuesday.
The hospital went on what it calls "internal disaster" mode when the problem happened, forcing ambulances to divert to other hospitals. Ganci says the hospital is still taking walk-in patients in the ER.
The hospital's "fast track" urgent care has temporarily been moved to another floor to make room in the ER.
Stay with CNY Central for any updates.
