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North Bexley Residents are mopping up, after torrential downpours caused flash flooding in parts of North Bexley, on Saturday 10th of September. The heavy rain left homes ruined, left motorists stranded and even forced drain hole covers out of the ground.
Gateway News received several phone calls reporting of areas flooded. The area worst affected were Riverdale Road, Alsike Way, Bostal Heath and Normandy Way. Riverdale Road was described by one resident as “flowing like a River”
The fire brigade and the Council services were stretched to it full capacity dealing with phone calls from worried Residents.
Local MP John Austin (and column writer for Gateway News) also fell victim when his house was flooded. John Austin, who was abroad on Saturday evening when the flooding occurred, first learned of the problems in Eynsham Drive. A few minutes later another phone call from a Bexley Councillor, told the MP that his own home in Belvedere had also been flooded. John Austin said “I am grateful to my neighbours who alerted the police and the council to my absence. I particularly wish to praise and thank Cllr’s Daniel Francis and Chris Ball, who stayed on the scene until the small hours, helping the vulnerable and reassuring and assisting residents. But I am appalled at the lack of response from Thames Water, who failed to show until the early hours of Sunday morning, when the waters were subsiding, and after the council and fire service had been out with their pumps. In Abbey Wood, Thames Water refused to turn out at all and yet they possibly bear a considerable responsibility”.
John Austin said that he was writing to the Deputy Prime Minister, calling for an investigation. He added: “There is speculation that one of Thames Water’s pumping stations failed and that some of the covers on the drainage channels were not sufficiently secure so lifted with the surge of water. This is an area of major expansion in the Thames Gateway, and developers and prospective residents will need some reassurance that the storm drainage system is adequate. That is why I will be raising these issues with the Deputy Prime Minister”.
The dramatic storms fortunately cleared by early morning, allowing residents to asses the flood damage.
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