Updated: Now with Photos after the jump.

A significant downpour around end-of-business yesterday was too much for the roof & drainage of the Evans Building on Queens Street in Upper Hutt. With fuses blowing and water streaming down the walls of Video Ezy (on the ground floor), the NZFS Crews from Rimutaka and Trentham who responded were quick to request the Fire Police Unit with Aquavacs to assist with Salvage.

RIMU4926 and 4928 were quickly on the scene and had to address water on both the ground and second floors, which it appears defeated the guttering and downpipes of the roof area and pooled, eventually working its way through the ceiling. Members of the Unit deployed Aquavacs, Salvage Sheets and Mops/Squeegies to deal with volumes of water that'd entered the building. We also deployed portable lighting within the Video Ezy, whos electricity had been turned off for safety reasons. Unfortunately, just as the Unit were in the process of completing the mop-up, another downpour arrived and with it, even more water.

RIMU491 was recalled to the scene and their crew eventually had to cut through a downpipe to release a large backlog of water on the ceiling of the building. They then assisted HVFP in dealing with the majority of the water left behind; with the remainder handled by the property owners (once the significant threat to property was addressed).

It's fortunate that water damage was minimised and that electricity supply to the buildings affected was quickly addressed. One of the first major rainstorms of 2010 - let's hope not a sign of things to come!

Photos thanks to FP Bruce Key, showing FP Alex Roberts hard at work: