Damp basements in London

[Ian Geary]

It seems London's precipitation has caused some flooding amongst "super basements".

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9782823/L...

Quote from the article

Brian May said:

'I had rescued all my most treasured childhood photo albums and scrapbooks from my studio house because it was threatened with a forest fire some months ago. Where did I put it all for safety ? In the basement here in Kensington. Irony. Today it turned into a sodden mess.'

'Historically, for 150 years, Kensington has never flooded due to rainwater. Why did this happen ? It's almost certainly the result of all the basement building that has been plaguing this area for the past 10 years.

Hmm, so presumably Mr May doesn't consider his basement to be one of those plaguing the area... that's proper irony.

[eharding]

Rain Must Fall to generate that much flooding, obviously, but curious as to quite how much water got into the basement. Was it Under Pressure?

[thewarlock]

eharding said:

Rain Must Fall to generate that much flooding, obviously, but curious as to quite how much water got into the basement. Was it Under Pressure?

His carpet looks ruined. He'll have to Tear It Up.

[Beati Dogu]

Pffttt... He wants it all and he wants it now.

[eharding]

thewarlock said:

eharding said:

Rain Must Fall to generate that much flooding, obviously, but curious as to quite how much water got into the basement. Was it Under Pressure?

His carpet looks ruined. He'll have to Tear It Up.

Could have been hydraulic shock causing a pipe to burst, exacerbated by it being in the basement - old pipework down there slowly corroding without being noticed, just waiting for the water Hammer to Fall.

[KAgantua]

Was his basement tanked properly, perhaps it was under pressure.

[egor110]

thewarlock said:

eharding said:

Rain Must Fall to generate that much flooding, obviously, but curious as to quite how much water got into the basement. Was it Under Pressure?

His carpet looks ruined. He'll have to Tear It Up.

Or rip it up and start again

[RizzoTheRat]

The thread must go on...

Not in London but we had about an inch of water in our basement last year, and then a couple of weeks ago it leaked again but fortunately only about a bucketful. Luckily it was clean water as we don't have a toilet or drain down there, but apparently several neighbors had sewage in the basements where pipes had backed up. In our case it floods outside and comes in through the window.
Very lucky we didn't lose anything important as the only stuff on the floor was in plastic crates, and the sofa bed seems to have dried out ok after leaving the dehumidifier going for a few weeks.

[FourWheelDrift]

The should have opened the Thames barrier and let it all flow out

[eharding]

Seriously though, a lot of the flash flooding seen in London yesterday was due to the chronic lardburg congestion of the sewer system, caused in no small part by fast food establishments, where the grease, tallow and congealed oils from the foods collect in drip trays at the base of the cooking equipment, is removed and improperly disposed of into the drains. So you could quite reasonably blame it on those - brace yourself - Fat Bottomed Grills.

[Gareth79]

Ian Geary said:

Hmm, so presumably Mr May doesn't consider his basement to be one of those plaguing the area... that's proper irony.

He's referring to the "mega basements" of 2 large stories below ground. Given his previous complaints about neighbours' work, I assume he has a normal basement you'd find in any Victorian/Edwardian town house.

Regardless, I doubt it would affect surface water drainage speed from a flash flood of the type yesterday, more likely as mentioned to be poor maintenance/blocked pipes etc.

[budgie smuggler]

article said:

'North Kensington is a prime example of land that would have soaked up water, which is now being used for super basements.

Is North Kensington not on clay then? I'm on clay and it doesn't seem to soak anything up. Water will sit on it for days on end after heavy rain.

[Biggy Stardust]

So too many people crowding into too small a space leads to problems? Who would have guessed?

Is this the world that we created?

Edited by Biggy Stardust on Tuesday 13th July 17:47

[Teddy Lop]

What a load of toss.

I attended two mondays-rain related electrical problems today in hampstead, one was a second floor balcony with blocked drains that sent water though a light fitting on the first floor, the other was some leaky original front steps dribbling over the electrics on the lower ground floor.

Some bits of London had biblical levels of rain yesterday.

[garagewidow]

The seven seas a rye'ved.

[horseshoecrab]

That was my thought too, if you have a typical month of rain in 90 minutes it will flood everywhere. It's not a kind of magic

[eharding]

budgie smuggler said:

Is North Kensington not on clay then? I'm on clay and it doesn't seem to soak anything up. Water will sit on it for days on end after heavy rain.

LANDIS Soil Explorer here - you can zoom in and click on the map to get an overview of soil data.

Free draining loamy soils in South Kensington , and areas of loamy soils with high groundwater and clays with impeded drainage to the north.

I really like these charts, and maps in general, in fact I'm in Love with My Car(tography).

[efcgriswold]

Now London is getting flooded maybe the budget for flood protection will increase?

[Donbot]

eharding said:

Could have been hydraulic shock causing a pipe to burst, exacerbated by it being in the basement - old pipework down there slowly corroding without being noticed, just waiting for the water Hammer to Fall.

Very good

[CoolHands]

Let me get my small violin out for a mega rich bloke with bad hair