Burst water main floods Queenstown Mall

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

A burst water main has flooded Queenstown Mall and at least two waterfront streets, sending water 'gushing' into the lake.

It is understood at least one business was partially flooded after the water main burst on Wednesday evening, pushing up pavers in the mall.

An employee at Reading Cinemas, who did not want to give his name, said he first noticed flooding outside the Mall St building about 6.30pm or 7pm.

'It wasn't particularly deep, but it was just gushing down, there was a lot of water just gushing down the street,' he said.

'It was pretty flooded outside the front door, but it didn't come up into the building, for us anyway.'

The flooding also affected Rees St, which had been taped off by Fire and Emergency New Zealand at the intersection with Beach St and was closed to traffic.

Queenstown Lakes District Council general manager for property and infrastructure Peter Hansby said contractors had shut off water to assess the damage and start fixing the fault.

It was likely water in the immediate vicinity of the mall would remain off overnight, he said.

Queenstown man Paul Earnshaw was on the first floor of a restaurant on Rees St when he noticed water flowing down from the mall about 7.20pm.

He said pavers in the mall, which encompassed Mall St, had been forced up by what he thought was the water main bursting.

'It flowed all the way down into the lake, and flooded along Marine Pde,' he said.

'It got quite deep at one point – pretty much up to the doors.'