A water crisis has forced the evacuation of about 700 staff in the Queensland Health building in Brisbane’s Charlotte Street, who have been sent home for the day.
Water came up out of the toilets and taps after pressure tests were conducted on rooftop tanks just after 11:00am (AEST) on Wednesday.
Staff were initially evacuated to the nearby City Botanic Gardens.
Cathie Schnitzerling from Queensland Health said staff had been ordered to collect their belongings and go home due to safety concerns.
“We’re making an assessment this afternoon as to whether the building can be occupied tomorrow,” she said.
“We will then contact staff through our usual communication channels to let them know whether or not they can come back tomorrow or whether they’ll need to come back on Monday after there’s been some sort of clean up and repair.”
At the same time, a water main burst near an adjacent building in Charlotte Street damaging the footpath and a taxi area.
Queensland Urban Utilities is working to fix the burst water main and said the problem was unrelated to issues inside the Queensland Health building.