Workers scramble to plug cracks in Washington Monument ahead of Irene

[nadinbrzezinski]

Washington (CNN) -- Just days after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake cracked the Washington Monument in four places, the National Park Service is trying to protect it from being further damaged by Hurricane Irene, spokeswoman Carol Johnson said Friday.

Engineers for the National Park Service are working inside the Washington Monument to "plug holes and catch anything that they can't plug,"
Johnson told CNN. "We have a group of people who are on ropes up there, trying to pin and plug whatever they can."

The engineers are using a flexible insulation called backer rod.

"They are basically jamming it into the cracks," Johnson said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/26/washington.monument/index.html?eref=rss_latest&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+Most+Recent%29

Good they are doing this... but I wonder if there was structural damage? That one is the serious type.

[eleny]

1. I wondered about that building most of all and for obvious reasons

Plus I had a funny experience in it when I was 10 years old. But that's for another day.

[dtexdem]

2. After Irene, will it be the Washington Monu-went?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. If there is any structural damage

it will increase it...

Goes without saying that this is not the only compromised structure.