Southbank hotel floods out

More than 100 people were evacuated from the Experience Bella Hotel Apartments in Southbank about 10:00pm this week after the place was flooded out.

According to police, a 27-year-old man had barricaded himself in an office after opening the hydrants and sending thousands of litres of water pouring through the building, flooding out 18 floors.

Police arrested the man, from Traralgon in eastern Victoria. He was taken to hospital by ambulance for assessment.

Firefighters turned off the hydrants.

They then used specialist fans and other equipment to dry out the hotel, which was left with extensive water damage.

Fire crews were called back to the building around 4:30am when a maintenance worker trying to repair the fire panel was hit in the face by a jet of water from a burst pipe.  The worker, 47, was checked by paramedics and taken to hospital. 

The building will remain closed until it can be inspected.

Guest Andrew Hannah from Ballarat had come to the hotel with his wife and 15-month-old daughter for an overnight getaway.

"A loud alarm went off — scared the hell out of me," Hannah told the ABC.

"It couldn't have come at a worse time. It was a nice romantic night, so we were pretty unlucky in timing."

Mr Hannah said heading downstairs with a young child in ankle-deep water was frightening.

"Our instinct was to use the elevator but that wasn't the smartest thing to do," he told the ABC.

"It was pretty difficult to get down the stairs, really not knowing what was going on. It was quite scary."

Another guest, Clare, told the ABC there was “water everywhere”.

"I came into the city for a good night's sleep and I'll be lucky to get one," she said.

"On the 15th floor there was water everywhere, [we] couldn't use the elevator, had to walk down the stairs."

Leon Getler 29th May 2018