Apocalypse Bush

Amidst the ridiculous hyperbole of the impending storm yesterday morning, which seemed to involve a bit of high wind for an hour before the sun came out, some people in W12 did end up having a pretty nasty morning. Among the worst I came across as I walked to work were some houses and flats at the top of Wormholt Road near the junction with Uxbridge Road who had been flooded as a result of the water main that essentially blew up nearby.

Uxbridge Road itself was cordoned off and heavily flooded while firefighters struggled in calf high water to open drains, that themselves were probably inundated and unable to take any more. I also saw a tree that had hit a house, thankfully not breaking through the upstairs window it hit, and numerous branches everywhere.

As ever in these situations there involved an element of comedy borne of farce. Top of my list was a woman shouting at a fireman for closing Uxbridge Road, meaning that she couldn't get the bus to go to work. The man just looked at her with his mouth open, as water cascaded down the road.

A close favourite was a 207 bus driver who wasn't going to let the biblical flood of Uxbridge Road stop him getting to his depot in Ealing for a cup of tea, and drove the bus right through the water.

All in all the main thing is that nobody was seriously hurt. But do bear in mind those who ended up getting flooded. That really is a horrible thing to happen.