Gas leak throws capital's hotels, eateries and brewers into chaos

Restaurants cut menus, hotel guests had cold showers and a brewer dumped 5000 litres of ruined beer after water penetrated the gas network in Wellington's CBD yesterday.

About 50 staff in the Bowen State building - next to the Beehive - were evacuated at 7am after workers smelt gas, and rush-hour commuter traffic slowed to a crawl outside.

Gas utility Powerco said 1000 properties were affected. It was mobilising teams to restore the network but normality was two days away.

Wellington Brewery Company was one of the properties affected. The boutique brewer was halfway through a batch when its gas boiler failed, spoiling the beer. It is estimating $10,000 of costs, according to Radio New Zealand.

Hotels ferried customers across town for hot showers and restaurants fired up barbecues, cutting menus and offering more cold dishes. Some businesses opted to close.

Ibis Hotel manager Olivier Lacoua said 100 Ibis guests had been sent to stay at its sister hotels the Novotel and Mercure, which were unaffected.

Remaining guests were being served food cooked on hired electric fryers and hot plates, and some were showering in portable showers in the hotel basement. Others were to be shuttled to the Novotel and Mercure hotels for showers this morning.

"We are in contact with [Powerco]. We are making sure we are a priority when gas comes back. We will be one of the first," said Mr Lacoua.

The hotel was in touch with their insurance company to establish the cost of the lost gas, he said.

"You can imagine it's going to be considerable. Every day that we haven't got any gas is a loss of revenue for us."

Powerco Network service delivery manager Stephen Nicholls said the gas interruption occurred when water leaked from an underground water main and penetrated the Powerco gas network.

"The force of the water coming into the system was such that it blasted a 70mm hole through a steel gas main and into the plastic low pressure main inside."

- NZPA