Gold Coast nightclubs forced to close hours early after explosion causes power outage

MAJOR Gold Coast nightclubs were forced to close hours early last night after an explosion cut power to parts of the Glitter Strip. The force of the explosion sent man hole covers flying through the air, narrowly missing pedestrians.

Melbas on the Park was forced to close at 10pm last night.

MAJOR Gold Coast nightclubs were forced to close hours early last night after an explosion cut power to parts of the Glitter Strip.

Melbas on the Park, Cocoon and Helm Bar had to close their doors and refund function bookings when a high voltage underground cable exploded on the corner of Cavill Avenue and Gold Coast Highway at 10pm.

The force of the 11,000 volt cable exploding shot four man hole covers off the footpath, narrowly missing nearby pedestrians.

Power was cut to 1742 customers, including major clubs which were busy during the peak Saturday trading period.

The man hole covers on the footpath were blown off by the explosion.

It took more than an hour for power to be restored to the first customers at 11.18pm, with the final customers reconnected at 12.15am.

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But it was too late for nearby nightclubs to recoup lost trade, with all forced to close during the blackout.

Melbas on the Park manager Ricky Munday said the business would be seeking compensation for a “massive loss of revenue” after management decided to close the club after power was out for more than an hour.

He said he was frustrated by the communication from Energex after being told several times it would be fixed in five, seven and 10 minutes and then being told it would be hours.

“We had a Japanese DJ booked for the night and about 500 presales. We’ve had to reschedule that to tonight,” he said.

“The attitude from Energex was pretty ordinary.”

The scene of the explosion.

Helm Bar manager Justin Fletcher said he had an engagement party and 90 patrons at the bar when the blackout hit.

“It was too dangerous to trade, so we had some very unhappy customers,” he said.

“It was very bad timing on Saturday night, especially the way most people are trading at the moment.

“It probably cost us $10,000, we had to refund people, we had a function and then it was a busy Saturday night.”

Cocoon had to close early. Picture: Richard Gosling

A spokesman from Cocoon said the popular riverside bar was busy but had no option to turn customers away.

“Then we tried to drive up Cavill Ave but the lights were out and it was mayhem at that intersection,” he said.

Queensland Ambulance Service were called out after the explosion but did not treat anyone.

An Energex spokesman apologised for the inconvenience but said crews worked quickly to repair the joins of the two underground cables.

“Unfortunately the fault happened in a very public area,” he said.

“High voltage underground cables don’t fail all that often but when they do, it does cause an inconvenience.

“It is not as simple as flicking back on a switch.

“We do apologise for any inconvenience.”