Update: Clapham Road Flood

I'm posting an update provided by Thames Water on the flooding in Clapham Road last night. Lambeth Councillors are keeping a close eye on developments and the Oval ward councillors (which is where the flood is located) are contacting residents.

Update from Thames Water on Clapham Road flooding

Picture: @LewisWhyld

As you will be aware, the A3 Clapham Road in Kennington is closed due to flooding after a high-pressured 30-inch Thames Water main burst across the carriageway at around 8.30pm yesterday evening.

The road remains closed both ways between Oval Station and Caldwell Street while engineers work to inspect and then repair the damage, although the flooding has not affected the underground station.

It is important to clarify early media and eye-witness reports that the flooding was “a torrent of sewage”. In fact, it was clean water which had turned murky after picking up mud and sand from the road.

By midnight, our teams had shut off the water supply to the broken pipe and water supplies had been restored to the vast majority of affected customers in the area.

The focus of the team now is to fix the broken water pipe as soon as possible and get the road back to normal. We’re really sorry to anyone who has been affected.

The water is believed to have flooded one basement flat, although the resident was not “evacuated” from their property, as was also suggested in the media.

We will now be working with the police and Lambeth Council to inspect the damage and carry out what is expected to be a complicated repair, with other utility pipes in the close vicinity of the broken main.

We will provide a further update this afternoon once we have a better idea about how long the repair will take. The Thames Water twitter account will be providing more updates: https://twitter.com/thameswater