TV3 newsroom production affected by burst pipe

Photo / Martin Sykes

TV3's newsroom became the news yesterday when a burst water pipe caused flooding and firefighters were called in to help.

The flood occurred at 6.30am when a connection pipe in the air conditioning broke, leaking water through the ceiling. Two technical units, involving lights and graphics, were damaged.

Firefighters and air-conditioning contractors spent an hour cleaning up the mess.

Media Works chief financial officer Peter Crossan said: "They had lovely big wet vacuum machines, the big industrial, strong ones were used."

There were 17 engineers checking the equipment after the flood and it was too early to estimate the cost of damages, he said. "Most of the equipment was damaged but it could have been a lot worse."

The flooding cancelled filming of the news and current affairs show The Nation, which was to screen for an expected 40,000 viewers at 11am.

Producer Richard Harman said yesterday afternoon that the show would be filmed live and air at 8am today.

Later yesterday afternoon Crossan confirmed equipment had dried and there would be no further disruption to the schedules.