Power cut spillage hits Kelly Tarlton's

Auckland's popular underwater wildlife world has shut down after contaminated stormwater and sewage spilled into the site during power cuts.

Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World was further underwater than it bargained for after power cuts two days ago caused flooding from an overflowing wastewater pipe.

"We are underground and there was a wave of water came in so of course we departed fairly quickly," said operations manager Andrew Baker.

The Tamaki Drive site will be closed until Monday at the earliest as staff do a massive clean-up of carpets and other surfaces contaminated with a mixture of sewage, stormwater and seawater.

"We don't know the exact make-up of the water that entered the building but there was a lot of seawater in it," Mr Baker said.

The power outage at Kelly Tarlton's lasted from early morning until around 2pm.

An auxiliary back-up power system kicked into action to keep penguins in the Antarctic enclosure cool and water in aquarium tanks aerated so no wildlife suffered in the event.

It was not clear where the floodwaters had come from but water surged in when staff opened doors at the northern end of the site after power to Watercare Services' Orakei pump station failed.

Environmental engineers were working with staff to carry out testing for contamination. It was possible not all areas would be available to the public if the site did reopen on Monday. Staff wanted to be sure it was safe to let visitors back in.