Power cut to central Wellington

People were evacuated and traffic was stopped after power was cut for several hours to much of central Wellington following an electrical fire in an underground substation today.

Some areas reported power was restored about two hours later.

James Cook hotel general manager John Primmer said about 100 guests had been escorted out of the hotel on The Terrace, after a substation underneath the hotel's carpark caught fire.

"The hotel was evacuated as per our normal drills and everything was fine. Most of our guests have been drinking coffee in the lobby of a neighbouring hotel."

Mr Primmer said the fire was out and they hoped to have power restored shortly.

However Fire Services spokeswoman Belinda Beets said firefighters were not able to check on the fire until they had ensured the substation was not live.

Ms Beets said The Terrace, Lambton Quay and the Featherston Street area through to Manners Mall were without power during the outage.

The fire began in cabling which went in and out of one of the transformers which formed the substation, she said.

Police issued a warning to motorists that The Terrace was closed to all but urgent traffic until at least 1pm.

- NZPA