Residents rescued from homes as major flood hits part of north London
8 October 2019, 08:58
A swathe of north London was under water this morning as a major pipe burst, sparking floods.
Residents were forced to battle to work through deep water and reported having no running water.
Eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters were called to assist with the incident in Queens Drive, Finsbury Park.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said the flooding had affected a 500 square metre area and that people were being evacuated from their properties.
Steve Stubbs, who lives in Queens Drive, said: "My water didn't work when I went to grab a drink of water so I asked my housemates whether they had any issues - one of housemates left moments before it happened, it seemed.
Thames F*****g Water.... #FinsburyPark #Flood pic.twitter.com/QzX3zVmULc
— Paul Nuki (@PaulNuki) October 8, 2019
"Then I checked Twitter and saw one tweet about a flood on Queens Drive. I thought 'Oh, that's where we are'. I opened the balcony door and saw this river flowing down the road.
"The school looks OK as it's on slightly higher ground, but residents around the area on ground floors are having issues, I think."
Karim Traboulsi, also from Queens Drive, said: "My first thought was 'I probably won't be able to make it to work'.
"Now we're a bit worried about our elderly neighbour in the basement flat.
"(Water) isn't yet coming through, but it's leaking into the front garden, but hasn't made it to the stairs or the building foundations. The water level is not rising, as far as I can tell, but it's still flowing very quick."
One person wrote online: “Woken up to find our flat now has a river view.”
Queens Drive #FinsburyPark is flooded. @thameswater and @LondonFire on scene. pic.twitter.com/NMVd6FXtgI
— Jono Kenyon (@Jono_Kenyon) October 8, 2019
Residents said hundreds of people had been left without water and were unable to leave their homes.
One resident said: “Flooding in Finsbury Park and the water is rising.”
It’s all kicking off outside our house. #finsburyparkfloods pic.twitter.com/kInu0KMhje
— Lenny Martin (@lennym) October 8, 2019
Thames Water said engineers were investigating.
“We’ve sent our specialist engineers to N4 Queens Road, and they’ll be working hard to get your water supply back on as quickly as possible. We’re really sorry if you’re experiencing low water pressure or no water,” Thames Water said in a statement.
“This is also affecting, N5, N1, N7 and N19”
Thames Water told people to check their website for updates.
