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It was just a little rain three weeks ago, but enough to stop up a drain and cause flooding at the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library bookstore in city-owned Sather Gate Mall. 

Carpets and piles of books were ruined.  

“It was an unseasonable rain,” said Hallie Llamas, property administrator for the city. The city has scheduled maintenance of the drains, but the storm came sooner than expected, she said. 

Llamas said the city unclogged the drain and advised the Friends of the Library about how to make claims for damage with the city. 

“We’re back up and running, though we don’t have any carpet,” Ruth Grimes, Friends of the Library volunteer and board member, told the Daily Planet. The store has been reopened for one week, after two weeks of closure. “Sales were definitely up” after the store reopened, Grimes said, noting, however, that she didn’t know if they were up enough to make up for two weeks closure.  

The Friends of the Library are still calculating loses, said Amy Ross, president of Friends of the Library. 

The Friends of the Library used bookstore in the Sather Gate Mall is at 2433 Channing Way. 

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