20 Feet of Water Floods the I.R.S. Headquarters

The IRS Headquarters Building at 1111 Constitution Ave. NW in Washington, D.C. is likely to remain closed for at least 30 days due to flooding and electrical outages. The building sustained extensive damage to the infrastructure, office furniture and supplies.

The subbasement was submerged in more than 20 feet of water. The subbasement holds all of the building’s electrical and maintenance equipment such as electrical transformers, electrical switchgears, and chillers. Although these systems require closer inspection, they appear to be 95 percent damaged or destroyed.

The basement was flooded with five feet of water. The fitness center, food service canteens, offices, systems furniture, carpet, ceiling tiles, computer equipment and servers, and vehicles garaged in the building were all destroyed.

While an assessment of total damage will not be completed for several more days, costs are expected to run in the tens of millions of dollars.

They are quick to add that all this “will not impact the IRS’s service and enforcement operations,” which beggars belief.