More than one hundred guests were forced out of a Melbourne hotel onto the footpath in pyjamas after a man allegedly turned on fire hydrants which flooded the building.
A 27-year-old Traralgon man is accused of opening the hydrants across 18 floors at the Southbank building about 9.30pm on Sunday before holing himself up in a lower floor office.
Experience Bella Hotel Apartments was flooded and the whole building was evacuated as firefighters tried to mitigate the damage. Crews turned off the hydrants before using specialist equipment to help dry out the hotel.
General manager Cameron Jeffrey said all guests were relocated and had their costs reimbursed for the night.
"Thankfully (the water) all flowed down the stairs and all came out the front door," Mr Jeffrey told the Nine Network.
The 27-year-old was arrested on Sunday night and hospitalised under police guard with no charges laid yet.
A man in his 40s was taken to The Alfred hospital with soft tissue injuries and grazes while another man, aged in his 20s, was in a stable condition.
Guest Andrew Hannah from Ballarat told ABC he and his wife had been on an overnight getaway with their 15-month-old daughter when a loud alarm went off which "scared the hell out of me".
"It couldn't have come at a worse time. It was a nice romantic night, so we were pretty unlucky in timing," he said after climbing down the stairs in ankle-deep water.
Rockhampton's Rebecca Hack said she went to another hotel for the night before returning to collect personal items.
"I spent four hours outside in the cold, then found a hotel room and I've just climbed 24 flights of stairs to get my bag back," she told ABC
"I've got an 8.30am meeting. I didn't think a monkey pyjama top was the look."
