Flats flooded for the second time in two weeks (From Borehamwood Times)

Flats in Borehamwood flooded for the second time in two weeks

5:30pm Monday 13th February 2012 in News By Bruce Thain

People living in a block of flats in Borehamwood are counting the cost after their homes were flooded for the second time in two weeks.

Bernadette Lucas, 32, who has lived in her ground floor flat in Northgate Park, for eight years, said most of her possessions had been destroyed in the two floods — the first on Friday, February 3 and the second on Saturday, February 11.

Ms Lucas said: “Most of my stuff was soaked after the first flood and now everything is completely ruined.

“I was called on the Friday while I was at work and told to get back to my flat because there was something wrong with the water. I stepped inside and it was like Niagara Falls.

“Then after a week of trying to sort everything out and hoping I’d find out when I could move back in, the flat flooded again."

Office worker Miss Lucas, who is currently staying at the Ibis Hotel, in Borehamwood, said she could not move back as all the floors in her flat were still soaking and the damp had made her asthma bad.

She said: “It’s all been really stressful and I just don’t know where I’m going to be staying next week, because the flat isn’t liveable, and it won’t be for some time.”

On February 3, maintenance crews pumped water out of three flats flooded when pipes burst in the roof of the building.

On February 11, the fire brigade was called twice to stop water gushing in after a second suspected burst pipe in the roof flooded the flats for a second time.

Tenants in the 15 affected flats were evacuated after water poured through ceilings and electrical fittings.

Sam Jackson, 46, who lives with her partner Sam Fox, 44, was one of those affected.

She said: “We heard some funny noises coming from the boiler and then we saw water coming through the ceiling in the kitchen.

“After that, I thought it would be best to check Bernadette’s flat to see if anything was wrong, and when I walked over there you could see water coming out the windows of the flats.”

Mr Fox said he decided to call the fire brigade after trying to phone landlords Affinity Sutton, but he was put through to the gas maintenance company.

Miss Jackson said: “We’re all really stressed by it, we just don’t know if it’s going to happen again and we don’t know how bad it could be.”

Some people have been given dehumidifiers to dry out their homes, but Miss Lucas’s flat and the others directly above, have no electricity.

A statement from owners Affinity Sutton said it was waiting for a report from its surveyor, who had inspected the flooded properties.