KEY POINTS:
After celebrating a win on the horses, Auckland millionaire Barry Colman decided it would be safer to leave his Rolls-Royce Phantom at work rather than risk driving it home after a few drinks. So it was with some surprise that the Dragons' Den star and National Business Review publisher received a call from police yesterday morning suggesting he might want to try to rescue his luxury car from rising floodwaters.
The Rolls, which is worth about $800,000, was one of several cars parked in the basement of the Citibank Centre building in downtown Auckland. By the time Mr Colman arrived the water was too deep for him - or any other car owners - to be let inside.
Metrowater said the flooding, which reportedly reached up to 2m at one stage, was caused when a water main burst under Fort Lane during the early hours of the morning.
Investigations are still under way to determine why the main burst.
Auckland Deputy Chief Fire Officer Graham Fuller said firefighters were called to reports of flooding in a building at 5am.
They arrived to find more than they bargained for.
"It was a hell of a lot bigger and it got progressively worse with every building we went to."
Floodwaters were several metres deep in some areas, trapping cars in a number of basement carparks and causing damage to at least one basement level shop in Queens Arcade.
The entire Citibank building - which includes the American and Irish consulates - was evacuated and many street level businesses were closed for the morning.
Fire appliances and pumps were needed to pump away the water and by 9am the floodwaters had dropped to about 15cm.
Mr Fuller said power had to be shut off and at least eight buildings in the Customs, Commerce and Fort streets block were running on limited services throughout the morning.
By midday, when Mr Colman spoke to the Herald, he had still not seen his Rolls and wanted to know if it had turned into a submarine.
He said he left it at the NBR carpark because he had been drinking after a Melbourne Cup function on Tuesday night.
"We'd had a win on the quinellas so we had a few champagnes and decided that the safe thing to do was to leave it in the basement," he said, laughing.
"It was quite ironic. I did that to make sure we didn't get into trouble with the cops, then at 6.30 this morning I get a phone call and it was the police.
"I thought, 'Hello, I thought we just avoided them'."
Mr Colman, who is worth about $130 million, was reportedly the first person to buy the new Rolls-Royce Phantom when it arrived in New Zealand about three years ago.
The luxury car, still only one of six in the country, comes complete with a TV, DVD, navigation system, leather seats and wool floor coverings.
It was not known last night if Mr Colman's car was damaged.
If it was it won't be the end of the world. The publisher still has an Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, Lexus 400SL and two Citroens to get around in.
And if all else fails, there's always the private jet and 30m Italian motor yacht.
