Flooding due to heavy rain has led to a busy afternoon for London’s firefighters and control officers.
Between 1330 and 1630 control officers had received over 110 flood-related calls. In that three hour period they dealt with over 400 calls in total - more than they would receive in an average day. The highest volume of calls were from concerned people in north London, including calls to people trapped in cars and underpasses.
London Fire Brigade spokesperson said:
"Control staff did a tremendous job at taking such a huge number of calls in a short amount of time. They were able to keep anyone distressed calm and dispatch firefighters to incidents as quickly as possible."
Incidents include several properties being flooded on one road in Harrow; an elderly person trapped in a basement flat in Dalston and a person trapped with a newborn baby in a home in Harrow.
The Brigade has a range of equipment which can be used to help rescue people trapped by flood water, pump water away and protect properties. The Brigade has 14 fire rescue units, some of which are equipped with water rescue equipment such as inflatable rescue boats.
The Brigade also has a number of high volume pumps stationed at strategic locations across the capital. These can be used to pump large amounts of water away from flooded areas.