Thousands of residents had been left without water while dozens vacated their homes on a dinghy after a burst water main flooded a London street, with further pipe ruptures that might have been possible as the Big Thaw kicked in following freezing temperatures.
Eight fire engines and about 60 firefighters were summoned to Belsize Road in Camden at 2.50 am after a 42-inch water main burst caused flooding of half a metre across an area of around 800 metres.
The fire service said the mains had been isolated, but a further 15-inch water main had also burst and about 100 properties had been affected by the floodwater, with one homeowner likening it to having ‘the River Thames outside their house’.
It said numerous homes had been flooded and firefighters had to lead about 25 residents to safety, with several seen being steered away from the area with packed suitcases.
One video illustrates the fire brigade attending the location while water surged down the road.
As temperatures were expected to leap by 15 degrees or more across the United Kingdom after days of freezing weather, Water UK warned that the rise could cause more burst pipes.
Footage shared on social media shows emergency services using small vessels and residents being helped, covering them in blankets for protection.
Cody Dolcy-Grant, 27, who lives on Hilgrove Road at the end of Belsize Road, said she woke up to scenes ‘like the River Thames’ outside her home.
Ms Dolcy-Grant who’s unemployed due to a health condition said she wasn’t conscious of the situation until 7 am when she went to the bathroom and discovered the lavatory wasn’t flushing and no water was coming out of the taps.
She said her road was flooded, and when she opened the front door it was like a horror scene, fire engines up the entirety of the road, police, and ambulance, and then she looked to the left and it was like the River Thames outside.
Ms Dolcy-Grant lives on the second floor of her building so her dwelling wasn’t flooded, but at midday, she said she still had no running water, all shops were closed and transportation had been stopped on her street.
Station commander Gary Deacon said from the scene that this was a substantial flooding that had affected about 100 properties and left thousands without water.
The migrants will be over the moon, they can swim up the Thames and straight into Camden, and up to the four-star hotels they will be put into, but joking aside, water is horrible and it could take a year to dry the walls out in these homes.
Basements were never meant to be lived in, and during the Victorian era, properties were commonly built with a small space below ground level. This basement was designed for storage, and families would use the area to store coal, wood or other fuels during the winter months, while in summer the space was occasionally used to keep things cool.
It’s almost like the entire country and its infrastructure is falling like a stack of dominoes, but that’s what happens when governments don’t invest in its infrastructure, but then I guess giving away money and MPs looking after their own finances is more important, and it seems to be that infrastructure is only being maintained and not upgraded, but then to upgrade existing infrastructures would mean that companies would have to spend money which would result in less profit and therefore fewer dividends for shareholders.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 