Burst Pipe Causes Widespread Disruption in Melbourne CBD

A burst pipe has left thousands of Melburnians stranded in the CBD as power was cut to train lines, traffic lights and hospitals.

Citipower said a burst water main flooded a public car park on Little Collins Street in the city, with floodwaters entering a zone substation in the basement of the property.

"For safety, we have turned off power from this site, which supplies about 10,000 customers in the south-eastern sections of Melbourne's CBD," a Citipower spokesperson said.

"Our crews are on site and working to remove the water so they can safely access the zone substation and assess any damage."

As of 6pm, more than 5,300 people remained without power across the CBD.

VicTraffic said the power failure also knocked out dozens of traffic lights across the city.

"A large power failure has caused up to 40 sets of traffic lights to be out across the CBD, East Melbourne and South Yarra," a VicTraffic social media post said.

"When traffic lights aren't working, you must follow the same rules at an intersection that has a stop or give way sign or line."

An Epworth spokesperson said it was responding to the outage, which had impacted the Epworth Freemasons hospitals on Albert Street and Victoria Parade.

Emergency lighting is active at both facilities.

"Our teams enacted established contingency arrangements immediately and patients remain safe, and continue to receive care across both locations," the spokesperson said.

"Backup power systems are operating at Epworth Albert Street. At Epworth Victoria Parade, teams are actively managing the situation while we work closely with relevant services and contractors to restore normal operations as quickly as possible."