Burst Drainage Pipe Floods Embassy Suites

A portion of the ceiling in a Charlotte Embassy Suites collapsed early Friday afternoon after heavy rains caused a drainage pipe to burst.  The pipe helps drain water from the roof and runs through the ceiling in the lobby. When the pipe burst, it caused a portion of the ceiling to collapse and flood the lobby with water.

Erik Slemon and his father, Allan Goldberg, of Miami and were staying at the North Carolina hotel and captured the video. "In a matter of seconds it got a little stronger," Erik Slemon said. "I pulled out my phone and I shot it and the whole ceiling just came down. The whole lobby was flooded in a matter of five seconds."

No one was injured at the hotel. Emergency workers also rescued stranded motorists and evacuated a few neighborhoods as heavy rain flooded the city’s roads. As much as six inches of rain fell in a few hours in some areas.