GEORGE TOWN - Thousands of state civil servants were forced to evacuate a high-rise building that houses the Penang state government's administrative centre after a maintenance slip-up on Friday (Nov 22) caused the 61st floor to become flooded.

Civil servant Mahfuzah Jalaludin, who works on the 53rd floor of the Komtar Penang, said staff were asked to evacuate the building by security personnel at about 12.45pm, The Star reported.

"We thought it was a fire drill, but when we came out the whole floor was flooded with water," she said.

The boo-boo took place during maintenance work conducted by PDC Setia Urus, the management body of Komtar.

A video clip being shared shows water gushing down the stairs like a waterfall.

In a statement issued later, PDC Setia Urus said a contractor's workmen who were replacing components of the fire system had accidentally opened a strainer on the 61st floor without turning off the water supply, causing water to gush out of a pipe, the New Straits Times reported.

Although the water supply was cut off immediately, "the large amount of water kept running down to lower floors", according to the statement.

PDC Setia Urus said the problem was mostly resolved by 2pm the same day and business was back to normal.