The Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale could remain closed up to three weeks after a deluge from a broken water pipe in the heart of the aging building fried the judicial center's communications hub and soaked the Clerk of Court's office Sunday night.

The flood, the second to close the courthouse in the past 10 months, originated from a two-inch break in a second-floor water main about 9:15 p.m. It flooded the west wing's two lower floors.

Water cascaded down onto servers and telephone switches in the communications center, knocking out phones, destroying some computers and damaging important paper files. The flood also killed phone services in Broward County's main jail.

About 3,000 files were drenched in the clerk's office, but it was the damaged phone system that threatened to hold justice hostage in one of the state's busiest judicial districts.

''An old pipe bursting in an old building has brought our judicial system to its knees,'' said Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, who has advocated for a new courthouse for years. ``This courthouse is one of the biggest disgraces in the state and the public continues to suffer. Justice delayed is justice denied, and we clearly have a delay in justice here.''

EMERGENCY PLAN

Without a phone system, Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Leljedal said the jail is operating as it would during a hurricane.

''We have a plan for situations where we lose land lines or our telephones are out,'' he said. ``We have satellite phones, cellphones and two-way radios.''

Leljedal emphasized that BSO's 911 call center was not affected and said losing the phone system does not jeopardize safety in the jail.

Officials said Monday afternoon that the courthouse would remain closed Tuesday and could stay closed for up to three weeks. BSO officials are concerned that opening the facility to the public without a means of quick communication to the outside could create a public safety hazard.

An estimated 10,000 people visit the courthouse daily for a myriad of tasks -- such as filing for marriage licenses and fighting traffic tickets and foreclosures. Then there are the thousands of defendants facing felony and misdemeanor charges.

Representatives from AT&T are expected to give a more accurate timetable Tuesday on how long it would take to repair the phone system.

Initial estimates were at least a week, although court administrators will decide ''day-to-day'' when the building will reopen to the public, Finkelstein said.

Employees for the clerk of courts, public defender and state attorney are expected to report to work Tuesday, although very little will seem normal when they return.

But almost all court proceedings will be at a standstill for now, court officials said.

Magistrate and emergency bond hearings, done by remote video with inmates in Broward's main jail and a judge at the courthouse, were still taking place Monday, a courts spokesman said. Juvenile detention and domestic violence cases also will still be heard at the courthouse, Finkelstein said.

Most everything else will be postponed, including opening arguments in a noteworthy tobacco case against cigarette maker Philip Morris.

Lawyers for Elaine Hess, widow of a deceased smoker, this week booked three hotel rooms at the Embassy Suites on the 17th Street Causeway for the week so they could be near the courthouse.

Teah Wimberly, the Fort Lauderdale teenager accused of fatally shooting a schoolmate at Dillard High School last month, also was set to appear in court on a first-degree murder charge Tuesday.

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