Firefighters evacuate residents from flooded London street after burst water pipe turns road into fast-flowing ‘river’

'Everyone has been wading out with no shoes on,' says resident

Fire crews have evacuated residents from a flooded north London neighbourhood after a burst water pipe turned roads into “a river”.

Families waded through up to a metre of water to leave their homes in Finsbury Park on Tuesday morning.

About 80 firefighters and 12 fire engines have been sent to the area as engineers work to fix the broken main at the junction of Queens Drive and Princess Crescent.

Footage showed fast-flowing water gushing down the street and cars partially submerged.

Abi Glover, 27, who lives in a first-floor flat in Queens Drive, said ground-floor homes in her building were “completely flooded”.

She added: “The water started at 7.40am and it has not stopped. Everyone has been wading out with no shoes on.

“The police had a go at me for leaving, but I am in a flooded building.

“It’s like a river out there, I think that’s why police had a go at me – because the current is so strong.”

Flooding caused by a burst water main in Finsbury Park, north London (Steve Stubbs/PA)

Karim Traboulsi, who also lives on the road, said he had been woken up by the sound of gushing water.

He added: “We’re a bit worried about our elderly neighbour in the basement flat.

“It isn’t yet coming through, but it’s leaking into the front garden, but hasn’t made it to the stairs or the building foundations. The water level is not rising, as far as I can tell, but it’s still flowing very quick.”

London Fire Brigade said a 600m by 200m area had been flooded to a depth of a metre.

Crews evacuated residents from basement and ground-floor flats on Queens Drive and adjoining Brownswood Road. Hackney Council said it was opening a rest centre for those forced to leave their homes.

The broken main has left properties without running water, forcing a local primary school to shut. Emergency services were to distribute bottle water to residents.

Matthew Christian, who lives next to Manor House underground station, said: “It’s really shocking to see that amount of water flooding the streets with such power that it’s ripping up the road and rushing down the street into people’s front gardens.

“It’s not the kind of thing you expect to see in Finsbury Park on a Tuesday morning in October.

“The water is ankle-deep in some parts. I saw some people coming out of their homes where the water was going in and wading up towards us.”

Residents have been evacuated from lower-floor flats (PA)

Thames Water warned it could take all morning to fix the leak due to the “complexity” of the issue.

A spokesman said: “We’re sorry to any customers affected by our burst main this morning. We’ve sent our specialist engineers to the scene as a top priority, and they will be working hard to get everything back to normal as soon as possible.”

The company said the burst main was causing low water pressure or loss of supply across a wide part of north London, stretching from Hoxton to Tufnell Park.