Leaky Expo Square Roof

The roof is leaking at the Expo Square in Tulsa and it is the new $2-million roof. <br/><br/>Several vendors at the Tulsa Flea Market were flooded this weekend. News on 6 reporter Jennifer Loren talked

Monday, June 19th 2006, 12:55 pm

By: News On 6

The roof is leaking at the Expo Square in Tulsa and it is the new $2-million roof.

Several vendors at the Tulsa Flea Market were flooded this weekend. News on 6 reporter Jennifer Loren talked to one couple about their losses and finds out, what now?

When a storm damaged the roof of their old building, the flea market temporarily moved to the Expo Square. Vendors like Rae and Harold Engel were just happy to be back in business, no matter where it was.

The Engels sell dog treats at the flea market. They use that money to visit their grandchildren across the country. But after last weekend, they'll have about 70 fewer dollars to make that trip. Harold Engel: "And I looked up and it went bloop!" Rainwater dripping from the new roof of the Expo ruined some of their inventory. Rae Ann Engel: "They were floating around in the water and were a soggy mess. Just like a wash rag, only worse."

The Engels say they won't be able to sell these bones for full price. And they say other vendors had it much worse than they did.

The people who run the Expo Square say water leaks have always been a problem. But since the new roof was installed those problems have changed. Vision 2025 money paid for the new $2-million roof.

The new roof was installed just last year. That solved most of the leak problems. But according to managers, this new problem seems to be in the cables. Water is making its way down the cables into the roof and then onto the floor. Rick Bjorklund with the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority: "That's where we're having the engineers and architects, the construction people pay attention. What are the cures? What are the solutions? And those haven't been defined for us yet."

Expo Square managers can't say when or how the new problem will be fixed. But they say they are working on it. "Itâ€™s one thatâ€™s very high on the agenda for us to deal with."

The new roof came with a 20-year warranty against leaks.