Tooting Broadwave
Burst main floods high street, shops and basements as families are left without water for fifth day running
A BURST main left a London high street “like a lake” as hundreds of frustrated families remained without water for a fifth consecutive day.
Tooting Broadway station was cordoned off by emergency services from 3am as floodwater spilled out across the A24, a busy commuter route, and breached the doorways of shops and restaurants.
Thames Water engineers traced the leak to a 30in main and spent three hours bringing it under control as rushhour buses were diverted and traffic backed up for at least a mile.
Tooting MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan said several basement flats and 15 shops had been flooded, as video footage showed residents wading through knee-deep water. One local tweeted: “Tooting Broadway has sprouted a new lake overnight.”
Maggie Othal, a sales adviser at the New Look store, said: “Our shop floor is absolutely covered in mud... I’m pretty sure we won’t be open today.” Jalel Sultan, manager of the Londis shop, said: “We had sandbags stacked high. ”
The Tube station remained open as commuters queued in single file along Tooting High Street to the entrance.
Thames was unable to say whether its decision to increase water flow by 25 per cent to resupply 12,000 properties cut off after pipes burst across the capital in the post-snow thaw was to blame for the new leak. It said a “large number” of the 10,000 affected customers in south-west London, from Wandsworth to Mitcham, had water restored this morning.
Mains water in Hampstead and Hendon was also said to be back, with the number of London homes still cut off down to “several hundred” . But some schools were closed for a third day.
A Thames Water spokeswoman said it was “really sorry” for the Tooting burst. Mayor Sadiq Khan today accused Thames of lack of planning and urged “generous compensation”.