Firefighters spent several hours yesterday helping clear flooding from the ground floor of Kingsview Resort & Towers Apartments after a sprinkler head was accidently knocked off by a builder.
Mount Maunganui Senior Firefighter Brendon Burchell said builders were working on removing the ground-floor kitchen when the incident occurred just after 11am.
The water quickly became ankle deep, spilling out into the foyer and some might have gone down the lift shaft, which was checked for damage, he said.
Three fire appliances attended and fire crews isolated the sprinkler unit and began pumping and sweeping out the water.
Mr Burchell said the building was evacuated, but most of the tenants were soon allowed back in, while the clean-up continued. It was expected it would take several hours for the carpets to dry out.