• Water main burst in Blackheath causing homes to be evacuated.
• Homes were flooded to a depth of roughly 20cm and roads closed.
• Residents have been advised to stay away from the area due to flooding.

After a water main break in south-east London, Blackheath, six properties were flooded, and numerous roads had to be closed

Six basement flats on Meadowcourt Road and Eltham Road in Blackheath had to be evacuated after being flooded to a depth of roughly 20 cm.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has recommended people to stay away from the area because other nearby homes have been left without water or with poor pressure.

No injuries were recorded, and LFB continued, adding that the flooding was now “under control.”

At 04:38 GMT, ten fire engines and about 70 firefighters were dispatched to the area.

According to LFB, the burst pipe flooded a 600 m by 200 m area to a depth of roughly 50 cm.

As well as homes being evacuated, the local fire station has been affected by the flooding while Blackheath High School has had to close its junior school. “Significant road closures” are also in place, LFB said.

Adam Keeler, whose flat was one of those flooded, said the inside of his building was like a “swimming pool” and added it had meant an “awful start to the new year”.

“As the driveway and street were flooded it meant I couldn’t travel to work today as well as there being train strikes, so I tried to work from home, but we’ve had no electricity since 10:30 now so I’ve not been able to do much,” he said.

He added he felt “very let down” by Thames Water as he had previously alerted the firm to a leak on Eltham Road using Twitter in December last year, which “they said they were aware of but nothing had been done”.

Thames Water said their online customer team was in touch with Mr. Keeler and the burst site was “separate to the leak shown in the tweet”.

The firm added that Mr. Keeler’s leak alert “would have been logged and prioritized for investigation based on its scale and if it was affecting customer supplies – we fix over 1000 leaks per week, which is one leak every 10mins.”

“We’re sorry to customers who experienced low pressure or no water this morning,” Thames Water added.

“Customers should all be back in supply and we’re continuing to resolve localised reports of low pressure.”

According to Thames Water, the ruptured main has left homes in the SE3, SE7, SE9, SE10, SE12, SE13, and SE15 postcode areas with no or little water pressure.

In a statement about the flooding the firm said: “We’re really sorry if you’ve been affected by a large burst pipe early this morning on the A20 Eltham Road, in SE12.

“We’ve now shut off the flow from the damaged section and are working to get things back to normal as soon as possible.

“We’d also like to apologies to drivers affected by the closure of the A20.”

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