Another massive Thames Water main burst causes severe flooding

A Thames Water mains pipe burst has caused severe flooding, emergency evacuation and traffic chaos around south Cally, Barnsbury and the Angel. Pictures above show the volume of water caused by the 16-inch diameter pipe which ruptured at around 4am on 18th August. Flooding affected a 250 square metre area between Penton Rise and King’s Cross Road and affected the basements of multiple residential and commercial properties. For most of the day, Pentonville Road and Kings Cross Rd were closed to traffic requiring 11 bus routes to be diverted.

This large scale burst follows another nearby flooding on Kings Cross Road on 15th November last year.

The London Fire Brigade mobilised 8 appliances and around 60 firefighters from Euston, Islington, Soho and other fire stations. The LFB response included a specialist water rescue team to help evacuate about 20 affected residents. The Brigade deployed mobile flood barriers and drone technology to manage the incident. Staff from Islington Council’s emergency response team also attended the scene. A large scale clear-up operation is now underway.

Barnsbury Councillor Praful Nargand commented: “The Barnsbury and Cally area is regularly affected by these flooding incidents which don’t just cause disruption but they represent a real threat to life for people living in basement properties – especially when they occur during the hours of darkness. It isn’t acceptable for Thames Water to just say these are old Victorian pipes and such failures are inevitable. These are empty apologies from an organisation that under-invested, dumped sewage and now wants to hike your bills.

“Over the past 35 years the management of privatised Thames Water has known that its infrastructure was ancient and fragile. There has been decades of under-investment and, with Thames Water likely to go bust next year, its latest investment plans look uncertain. Over those decades, the owners of Thames Water have extracted billions in dividends and loaded the company down with debt from leveraged buyouts. It’s time for bolder action.”

LFB incident report is here.