The emergency room at Surrey Memorial Hospital will remain closed for two weeks because of flood damage.

Fraser Health spokesman Roy Thorpe-Dorward says with the ER being the busiest in B.C.,  it means hundreds of patients a day being offloaded to nearby hospitals, some of which are already reporting a high workload.

"We have had reports for (Royal Columbian Hospital) and Peace Arch in particular that have seen more patients that usual, which is not surprising when you divert a couple of hundred emergency patients per day from one site."

He says the biggest challenge so far is drying the ER out and then assessing the damage.

A construction crew broke a water main at the site yesterday.