The Internal Revenue Service and General Services Administration have announced that IRS headquarters in Washington D.C. will remain closed through the end of the year because of extensive flood damage.
The agency said equipment in the building’s subbasement was submerged in more than 20 feet of water and that employees might only be returned to the building in phases this fall as critical repairs to the building’s electrical system and heating and air conditioning systems are made.
The agency has implemented a business resumption process to continue tax administration operations, and the 2,400 employees who work at the building are being assigned to the agency’s 12 other buildings in the area, into temporary space, or are telecommuting, IRS said.
It said the building’s basement was flooded with five feet of water, and the fitness center, cafeterias, office, systems furniture, carpet, ceiling tiles, computer equipment and vehicles garaged in the building have been destroyed.
It will take at least 30 days to just dry the building and costs are expected to climb into the tens of millions of dollars, IRS said, adding that a final occupancy schedule will be completed by early August.
In all, five GSA-owned buildings in the D.C. area were forced to close do to the recent rains.
