Flooding sewage forces Holocaust museum to close

The El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center is temporarily closed after the facility was flooded by a backed-up sewage line.

Employees discovered sewage and water pouring from the center’s front door and bubbling up through the parking lot on Saturday, according to a news release from the EPHM executive director.

Some gallery space was damaged, as were front offices, reception areas, the bookstore and library, and storage areas.

The board president said in the news release that while the cleanup is already under way, it will take time. “We won’t know for several days just how long the Museum will be closed to the public,” Mika Cohen Jones said.

It was 17 years ago almost to the day when a fire destroyed the museum’s first location, and a similar flood in 2008 delayed the museum’s reopening.

Jamie Flores, the museum’s executive director, said these hurdles will never stop EPHM from fulfilling its mission of combating bigotry and intolerance by providing high quality educational and cultural programming. In fact, EPHM will keep the scheduled lecture, “Supreme Injustice,” by renowned scholar, Dr. Paul Finkelman on Thursday, Sept. 20.

The presentation, which is a partnership with Jewish Federation of Greater El Paso’s Cardozo Society, will be held at El Paso Museum of Art. Tickets will be available on the Holocaust museum’s website.