Water main burst affects Queenstown businesses

Thursday, 5 October 2017

Queenstown Mall is partially fenced off on Thursday.

Queenstown Mall is partially fenced while the council cleans up the mess from from a burst water main.

The main burst about 6pm on Wednesday. Two fire crews attended.

Queenstown Mall and surrounding waterfront streets were flooded after a water main burst on Wednesday evening.

Council contractors fixed the pipes, but the pavements on lower Queenstown Mall remained disrupted. Rees St had reopened.

The damage was largely at a surface level and it was likely cobblestones would be re-laid, Queenstown Lakes District Council's communications manager Naell Crosby-Roe said.

Part of Queenstown's Mall St is fenced off after a water main burst. The closure is affecting restaurants and bars.

People could access shops and businesses on either side of the site.

'BAD TIMING' FOR BARS

Restaurants and bars on Mall St and Searle Ln were were closed due to a water cut off until 1am on Thursday.

Downtown QT manager Steve Wilde said having Mall St partially blocked during school holidays was an issue for bars and restaurants.

'There's no question that the timing of this is just extraordinarily bad, but we obviously understand that these things do happen,' he said.

Queenstown Lakes District Council said the damage was largely at a surface level and it was likely cobblestones would be re-laid

Winnies Gourmet Pizza, Ballarat Trading Company and Madam Woo were affected.

'It's our main priority to get this thing open as quickly as we can. If we can just get a nice clean, flat surface so we can get the people up and down there again,' Wilde said.

Wilde was happy with the council's response and their actions, he said.

A Ballarat Trading Company staff member, who did not want to be named, said the fence and broken pavement would not allow outdoor seating for guests.

Rees St was closed until Thursday morning the flooding.

'People want to sit outside, in the sun,' she said.

She expected business to be quiet on Thursday and on the weekend.

'It would affect us over the weekend, especially with the school holidays. We are going to miss out, it's gonna be pretty s… actually,' she said.

BACK TO BUSINESS

Shops on Mall St and Rees St were back to the full swing the day after the flood.

Wilkinson Pharmacy worker Lorraine Long said the water burst caused 'a little bit of drama'.

'It was all right it just cost us money and customers and caused inconvenience, ' she said.

The water did not reach inside the pharmacy, but was about 20 centimetres away, Long said.

'It was just a bit of a mess and we were worried it [water] was going to come in.'

One customer stayed inside the pharmacy for about an hour, Long said.

'People were coming in at about 8.50pm so the business picked up then, but before then it was dead because no one could get in.'

During the flooding staff members were cleaning and restocking shelves.

COUNCIL TO CLEAN UP

Queenstown Lakes District Council property and infrastructure general manager Peter Hansby said cleaning up the streets was a priority.

'Once we've cleaned the silt off the cobblestones we will have a better understanding of what areas we will have to lift and re-lay and how we will go about it,' he said.

The council was focusing on minimising the affect to businesses, residents, visitors and ensuring no impact to Lake Wakatipu.

'To my knowledge there's no reason whe any business could not open [Thursday] morning and we are trying to clean up the paths so they don't have any disruptions with silt being in the stores.'

Hansby said the mobilisation was 'quick'. An alarm on the reservoir activated when the flooding happened.

'I'd like to acknowledge the hard work of the team through the night to make sure roads and businesses were open this morning.'