Top floors of Komtar ‘flooded’ after error by workers

Workers evacuate after water from the 61st floor flooded some of the government offices at Komtar in George Town, Penang.

GEORGE TOWN: Several state government offices at Komtar tower here were flooded after servicemen accidentally opened a valve without shutting off the mains on one of the top floors.

The workers were replacing firefighting equipment on the 61st floor at about 12.25pm when the incident happened, the building managers said.

The leak sent water gushing down to the lower floors, causing ceilings to leak and water rushing into the lift lobbies.

The high zone lifts which serve the top floors of the 68-storey tower were shut down as a safety precaution.

Most of the occupants of the state government offices had gone for their Friday prayers or were on their lunch break at the time. Those still in the offices were told to evacuate. No one was reported trapped in any of the lifts.

Building managers PDC Setia Urus Sdn Bhd (PDCSU) said the contractors were replacing parts of the fire extinguishing system when they opened a “strainer” without shutting off the water supply.

“This caused water to gush out of the pipe. The mains were shut off immediately but a large volume of water had spilled to the lower floors,” PDCSU’s chief executive officer Ang Choo Hong said.

The water had cleared and the workers returned to their offices after 2pm. - FMT