Evacuations in Wellington after major gas leak

A major gas leak has led to office workers being evacuated and traffic disrupted in the Wellington central business district this morning.

Powerco Network Service Delivery manager Stephen Nicholls said the outage was affecting about 1000 consumers but said the leak did not pose a threat to public safety.

Civil servants were evacuated from Bowen State Building this morning after the smell of gas was detected, but were later cleared to return.

Parts of Bowen Street and The Terrace were closed to traffic forcing commuters to find other routes to work.

The problem had stemmed from an interruption to the gas supply in central Wellington yesterday due to water entering Powerco's gas distribution network, Mr Nicholls said.

The problem had spread progressively throughout the day.

Contractors from the Wellington City Council were mobilised to identify the source of the water and isolated it last night, he said.

Powerco had contacted the council and four leak locations crew were sent out within minutes, he said.

The leak was located by 10.30pm and crews worked through the night to repair the damaged water main and the section of the gas network, where the water was getting in, he said.

Mr Nicholls said it would take at least 24 hours and up to two days to purge the system.

"Powerco has mobilised all available resources to address and rectify this situation," Mr Nicholls said.

"We are already draining water in four locations and will be opening up the network in other locations to ensure supply is restored to gas consumers as soon as possible."

Any person smelling gas in a home or building in and around Wellington's CBD should immediately evacuate and contact Powerco or emergency services, he said.

Wellington police Inspector Mal Schwartfeger said police were working with Powerco, diverting traffic and ensuring the affected streets were securely blocked off.

Parts of Bowen Street to Tinakori Road, and the Terrace and Bolton Street were closed to the traffic, affecting thousands of commuters trying to get to work, he said.

Mr Schwartfeger said while some sidewalks were open he advised people not to smoke on those footpaths.

A spokesman for Powerco said later any consumers who used Powerco for their gas supply could have their air-conditioning, water-heating and general heating of homes and offices disrupted because of the leak.

Some consumers could be without hot water or heating for at least 24 hours to possibly two days, he said.

- NZPA