Counting cost of flash flood fallout (From Your Local Guardian)

Counting cost of flash flood fallout

1:40pm Tuesday 31st July 2007 in News By Rosa Silverman

A bad smell has been keeping customers away from Putney High Street's Oxfam store.

As the charity shop struggled to get back to business as usual, staff were still coping with the fallout of last month's flash floods - which included the stench persistently wafting up from the previously soaked basement.

Manager Julie Dent said: "The smell of damp from downstairs came upstairs and put people off.

"We have lost a lot of trade - probably thousands of pounds."

But Oxfam's plight is not unique in Wandsworth.

Over in Battersea, Babel bar in Northcote Road has been quieter than usual - largely because the normally blaring music was silenced when the computer system got a drenching.

Assistant manager Korab Berisha said: "We had no music on the Friday of the floods, and after that I had to resort to hooking my iPod up to the amps - which kind of worked."

Businesses and public buildings all over the borough were dealing with the aftermath of July 20th's watery chaos for some time, overseeing clean-up operations, insurance claims and repairs.

At St George's Hospital, everyone from porters to management helped clear rainwater out of entrances and corridors.

Argos in Wandsworth High Street's Southside Centre was closed for three days after the back of the store flooded and stock was badly damaged.

Wandsworth's Crane pub in Armoury Way, which was gutted by floodwater, is likely to be closed until September.

Landlady Teresa Nicholls said: "We're having a complete refurbishment, as all our furniture, flooring and walls were contaminated with diesel."

Wandsworth Council said the Government and Thames Water would have to invest heavily in expanding London's underground drainage infrastructure to avoid a repeat of last month's mayhem.

A spokesman said: "The main lesson to be learned is London's sewers and storm drains simply cannot cope with such a torrent of water falling in such a short space of time."