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Firefighters are battling major flooding near King’s Cross station after a water main burst in the early hours of Sunday morning, prompting the evacuation of a hotel.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said eight fire stations and around 60 firefighters responded to the incident, which affected an area of around 250 square metres on Pentonville Road.
Traffic in the area is expected to be heavily disrupted and people have been asked to stay away while firefighters respond. Pentonville Road is closed to traffic between Penton Rise and King’s Cross Road.
About 20 people from a nearby hotel were evacuated by rescue workers, while the basements of “several” residential and commercial properties were affected, LFB said.
According to Transport for London, eleven bus routes were diverted on Sunday morning. These are bus routes 17, 30, 46, 63, 73, 91, 205, 214, 259, 390 and 476.
Mobile flood barriers and specialised water rescue teams have been dispatched to the scene of the accident. A drone is also being used to survey the area and the damage caused.
Thames Water apologised for the incident and added that its engineers were on site.
“Our engineers identified the pipe break, shut off the main water supply to the broken pipe and had to temporarily close a section of the road to allow them to work safely and allow the excess water to drain away,” it said in a statement.
Tina Hodgkinson, who lives near Pentonville Road, told the BBC she was woken at around 4am by what she thought was heavy rain.
“I looked out the window and it wasn’t raining, but I could see this stream of water running down Pentonville Road,” she said.
The LFB said crews from Euston, Islington, Soho and surrounding fire stations were on site and the Metropolitan Police were also providing support.
