UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- The United Nations experienced record flooding and suffered a small fire during Hurricane Sandy, but resumed near-normal operations Thursday, officials said.
The "core infrastructure" of all headquarters buildings, overlooking New York's East River, were determined to be "intact," Undersecretary-General for Management Yukio Takasu told reporters.
"I think this is good news," he said during the first U.N. day of operations since the complex was shut down Monday because of the storm.
No U.N. employees were injured, he said.
Sandy's 90 mph winds tore sheeting off the top of the domed General Assembly building but this will be replaced, Undersecretary-General for Safety and Security Gregory B. Starr said.
The U.N. complex, completed in 1950, is undergoing a $1.9 billion renovation.
Architect Michael Adlerstein, the project's executive director and a U.N. assistant secretary-general, said the storm did not affect the schedule for completing the renovations, expected to be finished in time for the September 2014 General Assembly gathering of world leaders.
The General Assembly met Thursday in the 1,800-seat General Assembly hall, even though its entrance was damaged by storm flooding, Takasu said.
Delegates received a report from U.N. judicial organ the International Court of Justice and held separate committee meetings and informal consultations, officials told United Press International.
The Security Council -- which needed to convene Wednesday to vote on extending the expiring mandate of a U.N. peacekeeping mission to Somalia -- met in an undamaged temporary building on the 17-acre U.N. property's North Lawn, Starr said.
The council voted to extend the mandate for a week.
The three-day headquarters shutdown did not hurt worldwide U.N. operations, Secretariat Chief of Staff Susana Malcorra said, pointing to peacekeeping, humanitarian and other activities that continued, including Wednesday's Security Council meeting.
"That proves that we, as a global operation, remained operational vis-a-vis the rest of the world," she said.
The flooding began around 4 a.m. Tuesday when a storm surge from the East River came over the six-lane Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, continued into the U.N. service drive into a basement three stories underground, rose above a 14-foot-high loading dock "and then started plummeting down into the lower levels of the United Nations," Starr said.
The saltwater damaged many offices on the 3B level and submerged part of a garage on that level, damaging some cars, Takasu said.
It also caused a cooling system in the Secretariat building to go out and sparked a small fire in an electrical switchboard area, Takasu said.
The fire led officials to temporarily cut off all electricity to the U.N. complex, he said.
No data were lost, he said. The world body has a backup data center in New Jersey.
The U.N. archives of treaties and other historical documents appeared unharmed, Starr said.
"We know of no damage to those," he said.
Officials would not give an estimate of the cost of the damage. Takasu said the damaged equipment was insured and negotiations with insurers had begun.
U.N. websites were partially functional Thursday after being out of operation since the storm hit.
The world body plans to assess how it can improve operations, such as moving key communications and other equipment from the basement, "to avoid potentially an equivalent situation in the future," Malcorra said.
