The waters are receding in Romford and as of 1400 hours, we now have just two pumps at the scene as we help to remove the remaining water from a handful of properties. This morning the Brigade rescued 50 residents from Penn Gardens including a pregnant lady and her child. Another 60 people were rescued from nearby Frinton Road.
Station Manager Rod Vitalis who was at the scene said.
“Crews were on hand to pump away water and used inflatable rafts to help people who had to leave their house.
“We are expecting more heavy rainfall later today and so possibly more localised flooding. However, we are working very closely with other agencies to protect people and property.
Overnight 999 calls
The Brigade’s 999 control officers took over 550 weather related emergency calls and firefighters attended over 400 incidents as heavy rain and thunder storms hit the capital overnight.
Firefighters are still attending a number of flooding incidents this morning and although affecting the whole of London, the worst hit areas have been in the east, particularly, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Greenwich, and Lewisham
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said:
“Our control staff and firefighters have been working tirelessly through the night and into this morning to deal with the huge volume of weather related calls that we have received. Crews are being mobilised to incidents as quickly as possible but we are appealing to people to only call 999 in an emergency – where there is a risk to life or property.
“The high volume of weather related emergency calls received between 0130 and 0630 this morning is nearly twice the total number of all 999 calls that our control officers deal with in a normal day.”
Incidents attended by our crews have included flooded commercial and domestic properties, flooded roads, and vehicles that have been trapped by flood water. Firefighters also attended a number of calls to reports of property being struck by lightning. Thankfully there have been no reports of serious injuries.
Romford homes flooded
Currently five fire engines, four fire rescue units and 50 firefighters and officers are dealing with a flooding incident in Romford after the River Rom burst its banks. Station Manager Rod Vitalis who is at the scene said:
“Around 60 homes are affected either side of Lodge Lane on Penn Gardens and Frinton Road. They have been flooded to a depth of about one metre and we’re using rescue boats to get people safely out of their properties if they want to leave them to go to work or out to vote. We’re also pumping away water and using sand bags to try and prevent more homes from flooding where we can.
“We envisage being here well into this afternoon, and we’re working hard with multiple agencies to deal with this incident.”