A mysterious leak damages a portion of the red carpet several hours before celebrities arrive at the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards.

E! Online reports at 1:33 pm PST that a pipe burst and sprayed water on the red carpet at the Beverly Hilton, the venue of this year's Golden Globes, several hours before the arrivals. Around one-fifth of the area was damaged, and only those on the platform remained at the area after the rest of the people were escorted away from the leak.

Authorities arrived to help control the situation: the Beverly Hills fire department vacuumed up the leak, while the Beverly Hills police department handled the situation.

Workers also cut a portion of the red carpet open to open up the drain and avoid further damage.

Ryan Seacrest of E! News tweets a photo of the damaged part of the red carpet along with the caption, "Could be bad for long gowns #eredcarpet."

An insider from the Golden Globes tells Awardsline's Anna Lisa Raya that a crew's light may have gone too close to the heat detector, thus activating the sprinklers at the venue. Likewise, event producer Dick Clark Productions confirmed that a sprinkler at the venue, indeed, malfunctioned.

"We can confirm that there was a malfunction with a sprinkler near the red carpet," a representative of Dick Clarke Productions said.

However, the red carpet will open as scheduled.

"Despite the incident the red carpet will open at its regularly scheduled time," the rep added. "We heard some of the biggest names in entertainment were coming to The Golden Globe Awards tonight and we wanted to give the carpet one last wash before it opened."

Indeed, as of writing time, the celebrities had already walked the red carpet, and the female celebs' long gowns intact despite the previous flooding. It appears that the event is smooth sailing, so far, especially now that the show is about to begin.