Water damage in Flat A, 34 Westbourne Gardens W2 5PU
12 July 2021
I heard the first drips around 4pm.
Weirdly the noise seemed to be coming from inside the chimney breast... by 4:30pm there was water coming through the light fittings in flats above. By 5pm water was pouring through our light fittings, down the walls of our newly redecorated rooms, and out of our kitchen cabinets. Not long after the black muddy water in the chimney breast came out from under the skirting boards and covered the french oak floor boards in our bedroom and hallway.
We tried to grab things like laptops and passports and move them to the living room. I rescued my power tools.
Not long after water started coming through the living room lights and the ceiling made a cracking noise as water came out along the joins so I started taking stuff to the car, trying to jump over the river that had formed in the street. I've never seen rain like it.
The rain didn't let up for over four hours. Three fire trucks turned up to evacuate us because they thought the roof was going to fall in, but it turned out it was just the ceilings collapsing in the top flat.
This was what turned out to be the first of multiple 'freak weather events' to hit London lately. We're gutted about the whole thing and especially devastated to lose all the refurb work we've done over the past 12 months. We were 90% finished… But at least we're ok, and thank our stars we didn't get flooded with overflowing sewage drains like others in the area.
Since then it's been non-stop challenges with insurance assessors, loss adjustors and service restoration teams. We didn't have electricity for over two weeks so without dehumidifiers things began to smell pretty funky...
We hired trucks and trailers and over multiple trips moved the majority of our stuff to Fee's mum's house in Hull. It looks like we won't be able to return to our flat for at least six months while the floors, ceilings, kitchen and at least one wall are removed, so for the time being we'll be based in the North, with trips back and forth to London to for builders etc.
For those who know how the London housing system works, the full blame lies on our freeholder who has ignored our pleas to fix the roof for over three years
Ultimately we are angry and exhausted but moving on, and our alcohol intake has increased enormously.
Sorry for the messages we haven't answered, and the parties we're missing but we can't wait to catch up with everyone now we're not tied down with DIY duties...
And huge thanks and love to those who have offered emergency support, food and accommodation, see you all soon xx
