Surrey ER closed by flood

A broken water main flooded the emergency ward at Surrey Memorial Hospital with up to a metre of water overnight.

Twenty ER patients had to be moved out to other hospitals after the main burst at about 7 p.m. Other patients were told to go to walk-in clinics on Friday morning.

All surgeries and ambulatory service at Surrey Memorial have been cancelled while workers clean up the mess and repair the electrical system.

"I was there fairly late last night. The elevator shaft still had some water in it at that point, but the floors had pretty well been dried up," says Fraser Health Authority spokesperson Helen Carkner.

Carkner says the Surrey Memorial ER will be closed for at least another day, and surgeries have been cancelled.

"The hospital will make every effort to contact everyone. But the safest assumption is that your procedure for today (Friday) has been cancelled," she says.

"There's quite a bit of clean up today in some of the areas, so the emergency is going to stay closed until further notice, at least for today and it will probably take longer than that to get everything cleared up."

Patients who arrive needing emergency treatment will be taken by ambulance to other hospitals.