Inside the flood house: Greenford couple's home is wrecked when water pipe bursts

 
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Lindsay Watling9 July 2013

A distraught couple today described the heartbreaking moment they watched three feet of water flood their newly refurbished home after a burst pipe left a west London street submerged.

Nallely and Matthew Coulam, who bought their Greenford house last year and had recently finished decorating, were getting ready for work when water began to seep through the back door.

At first, they tried to stem the flow with towels, but it was too strong and within minutes their new wooden floor began to rise up.

They desperately started grabbing random belongings and transferring items upstairs but in the end, they had to give up and evacuate. By then, the house, shed and car had been destroyed.

Ms Coulam, 30, a paralegal, who already had a broken toe, was rescued by firefighters in a boat because of cuts to her legs. She received treatment at hospital, where her toe splint was reset, before returning to the Ealing Council depot - where all the affected families were being temporarily accommodated - for a decontamination shower.

She said: “We managed to save a few things but most of it is ruined. It’s sitting under a metre-and-a-half of water. Even the new fridge was floating.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m trying not to think about it. We are just trying to hold it together.

“We wanted to get the car to fill it with stuff, but within two minutes it went from just a little water to two, three feet. It just rushed in. The most traumatising part was that the water was coming in from under the floor. It was very frightening.”

Mr Coulam, 35, a charity manager, added: “In the garden the water was up to the top of the shed so that’s all gone too. The car is flooded as well.”

Theirs was one of 16 households affected by the burst pipe which started flooding shortly after 7am yesterday.

At the height of the incident, 76 firefighters and officers from 10 crews were on scene where they worked for several hours to pump out the flood water.

Other victims included Kerrie Goodman, 26, who had to leave behind her granddad’s piano that she learned to play on, and Katie Nelson, 17, who lost all her AS level notes which she needs for her last year of school in September.

Toni Defeo-Mayers, 54, who was evacuated from her home of 14 years, with her husband Roland, 48,10-year-old daughter Ella, dog Patch and two hamsters Toffee and Fudge, said: “We’ve lost everything from my years, his years and our years together. It’s all the memories from our lives.”

The residents are unlikely to be able to return to their houses for a week.

A Thames Water spokesman apologised for the inconvenience caused, particularly to those who were flooded, and added: “We are re-routing water from other parts of our network to restore service to normal.

“We are starting off the insurance process to get their homes and lives back to normal as soon as possible.”

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