London Schoolboy Goes to School Despite Flood

A burst water pipe filled the streets of Clapton, London, and caused flooding all around the River Lea on Oct. 3.

The floodwaters rose high enough to submerge cars and the ground floor of the properties within a nearby housing estate, making it difficult for residents to leave their homes. Underground car parks were also flooded with water.

Max Scott Slade, 33, tweeted a recording with his phone from a flat on the upper floor showing a young school boy knee-deep in water. The boy had a bag over his shoulder and was wearing a beige coloured jacket with his trousers rolled up as he braved the flooded streets in an attempt to get to school. Another man wearing a black suit with rolled up trousers could be seen climbing out of his window.

The 33-year-old said in a tweet that he wasn’t sure if he would get evacuated but that the police said it was likely, he told the Evening Standard. He said that the water was about two to three meters (6-9 feet) deep.

A Twitter user comment that Slade should throw in a “blow-up shark there and call it a day,” but the water from the pipes didn’t appear to be drinking water.

“I would, but it’s starting to smell of backed up sewage drains now. The pool dream is fading!” Slade replied.

Thames Water said that the they learnt about the burst pipes at around midnight. Engineers arrived at the site at approximately 3 a.m. but was unable to fix the pipes until 10 a.m., local reports said.

‘London Spirit’ Bringing People Together

Although the first floor of many apartment buildings had been flooded, Slade told the Evening Standard that the “London Spirit” was in action and that the whole community and emergency services had come together during the ordeal.

The 33-year-old said that the neighbours would check up on each other by knocking on each others’ doors.

An employee from Thames Waters, the water services company for the area, even asked Slade on Twitter to tell them about his situation so they could send the right kind of assistance.

As many as 40 firefighters were sent to to site to help with evacuating locals using inflatable rescue boats, Sky News reported.

Thames Water Responds to the Incident

Thames Waters investigators and engineers were updating everyone on their progress on Twitter.

While fire services are pumping water away from the affected properties and evacuating residents, Thames Waters engineers and specialists were working hard to fix the pipes.

The utility company said they had been having difficulty controlling the water leak due to obstructing concrete around one of the key water valves. Other customers were told that water would have low pressure during periods of high demand until the problem was fixed.

A spokesman for Thames Waters apologised to all those who had been affected by the incident.

“First of all I'd like to apologise to everybody that has been caught up in this.” he said. “We are working as hard as we can to get this problem repaired, we’ve got an army of loss adjusters and customer reps out there to make sure everyone’s life is put back together as swiftly as possible.”