More than 1,000 court documents were damaged Halloween weekend when water leaked from a failed gasket at the Anoka County Court Administration building and into a first-floor records room.

An on-call worker found "water running everywhere" on Nov. 2, and crews immediately worked to contain the damage, Andrew Dykstra, director of facilities for the county, said Thursday.

"This is significant," he said. "We've never had a situation where it damaged records to this extent before. This was an unfortunate situation."

The failed gasket is located in a penthouse on a third floor in the administration building. Dykstra said that because of the way water travels, most of the damage was in the first-floor records room, with minor damage on the second floor.

Anoka County has been making major strides toward making its courthouse paperless, and the incident is a prime example of how important that effort is, Court Administrator Lori Meyer said.

The court files were sent off-site to be treated and freeze-dried, while their electronic counterparts were put into use in their place.

The first-floor damage also included computers and a copier machine, Dykstra said. The carpet and some drywall had to be removed; the carpet was cleaned and was placed back into the records room. Several lighting fixtures and a counter area will need to be replaced, he said.

Dykstra estimated the repairs at $40,000 to $50,000, including about $22,000 to freeze-dry the documents.

The penthouse, which houses a chiller to provide air conditioning to that part of the building, is not visible to the public, but is situated right above the second floor of the court administration building.