Sydney artist anxious to see damaged works

SYDNEY, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A Sydney artist says he is anxious to determine the extent of damages to his paintings caused by the collapse of a small part of the National Museum's roof.

Artist Paul Blahuta confessed that while he has remained philosophical over Saturday's accident at the Sydney art museum, he longs to determine the level of damage, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said.

The small portion of the roof collapsed Saturday during a hail storm that then ultimately resulted in flooding of the museum's administration center.

"I'm hoping to get down there as soon as I possibly can. The area, I believe, is still unstable," Blahuta said.

"The engineers have been through and recommended no one goes through there until they stabilize the situation," he added, "and of course I'm keen to see what's OK and what the real impact on the work is."

The ABC reported that the National Museum is currently closed to allow a structural engineer to prepare a report of the damage.