Thousands still without heating nine days after water main flooded gas pipes

Thousands of homes in north London are still without hot water or heating nine days after a burst water main flooded gas pipes in what angry residents have described as a ‘perfect storm.’

Young families and elderly people have been left ‘frozen to the bone’ with temperatures often falling below zero – after the incident in Muswell Hill.

Many have been reduced to all living in one room to conserve heat and can’t even cook if they have a gas oven. 

With no hot water many have had to shower at friends’ houses while one mother has resorted to bathing her children in a bucket in the living room. 

Affinity Water and Cadent Gas are working around the clock to fix the problem which started on January 9.

But nine days on many are still not reconnected while extra pressure has been piled on the electricity grid with so many freezing residents turning to electric heaters to warm them up. 

Bel Kennedy had just been to a local community centre where woolly socks and blankets were among the items being distributed to families and the elderly. 

She told Metro: ‘It’s been a nightmare I have kids aged 10 and 15 and to keep them warm and fed has been so difficult.

‘We have been huddled in one room and because we can’t cook I’ve had to order pizzas every night. It’s so costly and it’s not healthy.

‘None of us in this area have been treated well and we are getting desperate. It’s nine days now and it’s just not good enough.’ 

Katie McLean, 51, described how her family sleep in one room to keep warm and that her friend has been washing her children in a bucket because there is no hot water for baths or showers. 

She told Metro: ‘The last thing I managed to do was give the kids a bath before the hot water went off. It’s been very tricky.

‘The house is freezing so we all sleep in one room. Heating the house with an electric heater and log burner is costing a bomb. My friend has been washing her kids in a bucket. The gas and water companies need to get this sorted.’

Several areas off Colney Hatch Lane have been dug up so engineers can work on the pipes. 

The Freehold community centre is where many residents have been referred to for help with staff from Affinity Water helping them. 

Pensioner Pauline Lewis was one of the residents at the centre. 

She told Metro: ‘The help we are being given is very impressive but it’s still extremely difficult in these freezing temperatures.’

Christine Kienzel said: ‘My house is freezing and I have had to put on loads of layers. 

‘My husband is over 70 so we have been given some help but one heater does not make a lot of difference. We are frozen to the bone.’

‘We have been huddled in one room and because we can’t cook I’ve had to order pizzas every night.

‘None of us in this area have been treated well and we are getting desperate. It’s nine days now and it’s just not good enough.’ 

Residents said they have been offered £70 compensation for every 24 hours they are without gas. However, that will be given to them in form of a reduction on their bill rather than in cash. 

Alethea Garvey, 50, told Metro: ‘It’s a perfect storm with the problems with gas water and electricity. And to offer money off bills is not fair compensation. It’s a disgrace.’ 

Businesses have also been hit with some forced to close and others seeing takings well done. 

Depala Surya, 58, who has run Micks newsagents on Sydney Road for 25 years, told Metro: ‘I have lost so much custom because all the roads are dug up and also people are just trying to cover themselves in blankets and not going out.

‘Normally I get about 20 customers an hour now I’m getting one. I feel so sorry for my regular customers it’s so terrible what they are going through. We are all losing out through no fault of our own.’ 

What have the gas and water companies said?

Cadent Gas, which manages the UK’s National Gas Emergency Service, said it was working to restore the supply and had pumped more than 33,000 litres of water out of the gas network. 

Affinity Water said an investigation into how flood water seeped into gas lines was underway.  

Vicky Grieve, Cadent Gas’s director of network for the east of England, said: ‘The size and scale of it is a really complex thing,’ she said. ‘We’ve had to segregate the network into 15 zones so we can introduce the gas back into networks.

‘I fully appreciate how difficult and disruptive it is to be without gas.’ 

‘We really are working hard to ensure we get the gas on safely.’

A spokesperson for Affinity Water said: ‘While Cadent is managing the process of resolving the situation within their network, we remain fully committed to assisting them and supporting the local community throughout the restoration process.’

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