By Ode Idoko in London
Residents of Islington in north London, on Monday have described the heavy downpour and consequent flooding of the area as”a tsunami”.
People in Tollington Arms, a pub located on the affected junction, was hoping the incident was resolved quickly. “It happened about 7am and within minutes there was flooding like a tsunami,” they said.
Men of the London Fire Service arrived few minutes after the flooding was reported to get things back to normal.
According to an eyewitness, the flooding “happened when the pub was shut but as we get through the morning, it may impact us but fingers crossed it gets sorted. We have got one eye on our cellar as that would get hit first. Let’s hope for a positive outcome.”
BBC reports that “the fire service were down very quickly, and we hope along with Thames Water, they can get things back to normal as quickly as possible”.
The flooding was reported to have happened when the pub was shut. Ten fire engines and about 70 firefighters have been deployed to the scene.
Multiple roads have been closed in north London after a water main burst, causing flooding up to 4ft high (1.2m) in places.
London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it was called at 07:01 BST to the corner of Hornsey Road and Tollington Road in Islington after the water main burst. The flooding has been caused by a burst water main
A 51-year-old man, who works in maintenance, said he was on the main road from east London into central London. “There was horrendous traffic not moving between 07:10 and 07:30,” he said.
“Eventually you got to the front and there were a couple of fire crews there and a cordon across the road. People were just going back on themselves.
“It’s the worst flood I’ve seen in London, and I’ve been here for some years. The Sobell Leisure Centre is lower than the street level, so it looks like there was a metre or so of water outside. It’s devastating for the local community.
“On the road there looked like one to two feet of water, and it was everywhere, not just a little section. There’s an estate on the left-hand side of the road and the ground there all looked flooded.
“You could see where the water was coming up; quite frankly I’ve no idea how you tackle something like that. It’s so huge and flooded that to even start digging up that ruptured area you’d have to reduce water levels first.”
