The Mall in Pilot Bay is closed today after a water main blew out near the intersection with Prince Avenue last night.

The water flooded the basement of a nearby house and may have flooded another says Fire Service Mount Maunganui station officer Neil Brown.

The Mall is closed to traffic after a water main blow-out overnight. Photos: Tracy Hardy.

'It flooded a couple of properties, and a basement in one property is quite severely flooded,” says Neil.

'It looked like it also got into the garage of an adjacent property, but we couldn't gain access and couldn't contact the owners.”

The Mount crew was on the scene for about two-and-a-half hours last night, removing property and pumping water out of the basement garage below ground floor level.

'The owner's had a house-load of property in there,” adds Neil. 'They were in the process of selling one property and shifting to another.”

The 250mm main ruptured shortly before the brigade was called at 8.20pm. The rupture left a hole scoured out in the street, gouged the road up and cut back the beach where it ran into Pilot Bay.

The area is fully taped off this morning.

The road closure may present some problems for tourist operators picking up passengers from the cruise ship Radiance of The Seas today.

Tauranga City Council communications advisors could not be contacted for comment this morning.