Four fire trucks responded to a leak at The Law Courts Hotel in Lower Stuart St just before 10am yesterday.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand Senior Station Officer Martin Hastie said crews were alerted to the leak by a water sensor that was triggered once water got inside it.
"There’s been a water leak up on the roof and the water had just flowed through the system and down through one of the detectors, which called us."
A plumber was already on the way to address the leak, but Dunedin crews beat them to it.
Other than a bit of damage to the ceiling, the water had been isolated and crews left the scene shortly after 10am.
"We’ve left a couple of buckets up there collecting water at the moment — nothing too much."
Hotel owner Jia Liu said a hotel guest alerted him to water coming in through the ceiling about 9am.
"The people staying in that room said they heard the water pouring down from the top, so they got me to go check."
A bouy that was meant to control a valve inside the two rooftop water tanks had not worked properly, and one of the tanks had overflowed.
The water then seeped through the top floor ceiling and tripped the alarm system, but only affected one room, he said.
The hotel had faced similar problems in the past because of heavy rain.
