EDINBURG – Hidalgo County courthouse officials are working to figure out what to do about a roof leak in one of their courtrooms.

“It literally looked like it was raining in the building,” explained Judge Luis Singleterry, who presides over the 92nd District Court.

In cell phone video taken by his staff, you can see garbage cans lining the floor as water seeped in through the roof of the court’s back rooms.

Singleterry said the jury room where jurors go to retire and deliberate took the brunt of it. Luckily, they had been dismissed that day.

“Had we’d been in a jury trial, it would have been tremendously disruptive,” he said.

Disruptive to the point of possible rescheduling it, which could cost the county money in juror selection, he said.

“These jurors that were coming in on that day would probably have to get released,” he explained. “We’d have to reschedule the matter and have these folks or some other folks come in at a later date. These are costs that are incurring to the county, to the taxpayers.”

He said, for now, the leaky roof has a band-aid fix while they try to figure out what to do about the up to $50,000 repair.

“My understanding is if it’s a temporary fix, not a permanent fix,” Singleterry said. “This isn’t isolated to just this courtroom, this is a problem that from my understanding – from speaking with some of these folks who’ve addressed this problem – is it’s happened with other courtrooms. It’s happened repeatedly over the years.”

The county says they’re exploring the option for labor costs to be covered by county staff who are certified for the type of roofing.