A significant water outage in central Wellington has been caused by a burst water main early this morning.
The rupture has led to widespread disruption with water supplies cut off in several areas, including streets off Oriental Parade, Hay Street, Telford Terrace, and likely the suburbs of Mount Victoria, Roseneath, and Hataitai.
The outage is expected to affect around 60 properties, according to a report in state media, and water services might not be fully restored until after 5pm. In addition to the water supply issues, the flooding has also impacted traffic, with water covering multiple lanes on Kent and Cambridge Terraces. Motorists heading to the airport have been advised to use alternate routes via Oriental Bay.
Wellington Water crews have been working since before 5am to repair the damage, but the work is expected to take eight to ten hours to complete.
Commuters have been warned to expect delays, and the public has been asked to avoid the affected areas as traffic management is implemented.
Perfect day for the Local Government NZ conference to kick off in Wellington with our calm, shimmering harbour bathed in glorious winter sun, buses replacing (off peak) trains, a water main burst on Cambridge and Kent Terraces and RNZ playing banjo live on air. Keeping it real.
— Thomas Nash (@nashthomas) August 20, 2024
Image credit: Pat Ho
Could we rename Wellington “Waterworld”?
LIHOP or MIHOP?
Hope the 🌈 crossings don’t get damaged or by golly if they do funding better be available to fix ’em!
Let them drink Coke.