It's one of Wollongong's newer apartment blocks but residents of the 19-storey Skye building on Railway Pde had to sleep elsewhere for two nights after a sudden flood on Monday.
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Graham Lancaster, whose law and mediation practice is on the ground floor, told how water was coming through the wall of his office after something "blew" in the building's pump room.
The cause of the mishap is now being investigated for the developer, Sydney-based firm Level 33.
Mr Lancaster said there was a fire capability technician testing the equipment that day and they feared he was missing.
There was water trapped in the fire escape behind us, it was coming through the brick wall
- Graham Lancaster
"Our building manager Jim Hughes came into my office and said 'Graham I need your help with something'," he said.
"I followed him. We got out on to the street and I could hear the alarm going off ... he opened the pump room door. He went down to have a look for the Fire Premium Services guy, who he thought was trapped in there.
"At that stage the water was already waist or chest height. He wanted me to make sure he didn't get trapped. The Fire Premium Services guy came round the corner ... he had been up on the 15th floor, testing fire alarms and services throughout the day."
Then, a fortunate coincidence: "I was lucky that Abraham from Hindmarsh McDonald, the accountant on the corner, had a client who specialises in restoration and disaster-type scenarios, they're called Revive."
"Darren came in, he had some big fans, and the firemen helped with the extraction of water from the carpet. But because there was water trapped in the fire escape behind us, it was coming through the brick wall."
"They had to go into the fire escape with a hose and pump it out."
He praised Mr Hughes' actions during the emergency.
Level 33's site manager David Clark said he felt for the residents who had to evacuate.
"Obviously it's been a distressing time for them," he said.
But it was not yet known for certain what caused the flooding.
"The building's been completed for two years now," he said. "We can't be sure if it's a maintenance issue or a product failure until investigations have taken place by the contractors.
"We can't point the finger because we don't yet know ourselves."
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Ben Langford
Senior journalist writing on the environment. Opinion columnist, independent. We rely on your news tips so please, don't be shy to let us know what's going on.
Senior journalist writing on the environment. Opinion columnist, independent. We rely on your news tips so please, don't be shy to let us know what's going on.
