Crayford flooding: Vehicles crushed as burst water main causes deluge in car park

Fiona Simpson9 October 2016

Cars left overnight in an underground car park have been crushed after a burst water main flooded a town centre.

Dramatic images have emerged of battered cars with smashed windscreens pressed against the roof of the car park in Crayford’s Town Hall Square residential development.

The car park was deluged after “complications” arose during overnight repair work on a burst water main in Crayford Road.

Motorist Sadia Farzana Chitra, 42, who lives in a flat in Townhall Square, told KMFM: “Everything is completely submerged. My car park is at the back of the block and that is totally underwater — about five or six cars are completely gone.

Smashed-up: Cars were pictured crushed against the ceiling of the building
Twitter/Paul Wood

“It is very devastating. My car and my neighbour’s car, which is a van, are damaged and the firefighters took a picture of them for us and told me it could be a write-off.”

Thames Water officials began working to fix a burst pipe inside a bridge above a railway line on Tuesday but a second pipe burst this morning leaving the area under water.

Under water: A car park at flats in Crayford was flooded
Twitter/Paul Wood

Hundreds of homes in Greenwich, Bexley and Crayford, as well as large parts of Dartford, in Kent, were left without water due to the issue.

Thames Water confirmed the supply “was returning to normal” shortly after 1pm.

Emergency response: Fire crews were called in to help deal with flooding
Twitter/Paul Wood

Dramatic footage showed Crayford Retail Park under water.

Graham Gainsford branded the issue as “big trouble” while others commented on the vast amount of people rushing to stock up on water.

Thames Water senior operations manager Danny Leamon said: “This is an extremely difficult repair, due to the location and depth of the pipe, and we are very frustrated to have suffered this major setback.

“The second burst and flooding is now under control and water pressure should be returning to normal for customers.

“We’re really sorry for this added disruption our work is causing, and are doing everything possible to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.”

A spokesperson for Gallions Housing Association said:"We have been on-site throughout the day assisting Thames Water, the fire brigade and the police following the burst water main in Crayford town centre.

"All Gallions residents are safe, have clean water and there has been no water ingress into anyone's home.

"Water has damaged some people's cars in the car park in the basement, and Thames Water have advised that they will have officers based at the library tomorrow to get all of the details from those affected."

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