17/02/2014 BBC London News

Parliament or served in government. Six, on BBC One we can now join the

BBC News teams where you are. We are live in Surrey on how

flooding has hit homeowners and businesses. We will hear from

residents who have been evacuated from their properties. Why was

devastated. Hate being away from home. You do, when you are older. ``

I was devastated. Plus, we have spent the week in a Berkshire

village where the emergency services have been rescuing people by boat.

And I have been given an aerial view of the flood hit towns on the

Thames. It is from the air that you get a real sense of the scale of

what flood hit communities have been dealing with, and the task ahead.

In other news, flames erupt from a pavement near King's Cross, leading

to the evacuation of homes and businesses. And catch me if you

can, how the world's greatest long`distance runner will set the

pace at the London Marathon. Welcome to a special edition of BBC

London News. We live in Surrey, at one of the places worst hit by the

floods. This is the local fire station, not unfamiliar with

rescuing people. At the moment, they have been joined by the police and

army. This has become the centre of the flood relief effort in the area.

There has been some respite for residents. All along the Thames

water levels are now gradually starting to go down. And we have

learned this evening that the 1 severe flood warnings that were in

place have been lifted by the Environment Agency. But they are

still warning people to be vigilant. That is the view from the ground.

This is what the police have been using to help people. They are

getting ready, I think, for a shift change at the moment. This is the

view from the ground but what about from above? Earlier this morning, a

new week and clearer skies. A welcome relief for the flooded areas

in Berks and Surrey. But this is a long road to recovery. It is from

the air that you get a real sense of the sheer scale of what flood hit

communities have been dealing with, and the task ahead.

When the Thames burst its banks in Wylfa, hundreds were forced to leave

their homes. `` Chertsey. One week on, houses and gardens are

surrounded by water and these horses are stranded. It is a similar

picture in Staines. Fields barely recognisable and some roads

impassable. Looking at things from a dear, you can understand why experts

say that it will take weeks or months for the water to clear.

Things have improved, thanks to a dry weekend. But high ground water

levels continue to pose problems. The Environment Agency says that

water levels are expected to rise again over the next few days, as

rainwater makes its way downstream. But thankfully, not back up to the

levels that we have seen over the past week. And further downstream,

this is what has been protecting central London since 1982. The

Thames barrier. Originally designed to be raised once every six years,

it has already been raised 41 times this winter. Another reminder that

we are experiencing the unexpected. Back on the ground, let's talk to a

couple who took it upon themselves to coordinate the relief effort here

in Chertsey. Kevin, do you feel that you are making progress? In some

ways, yes. We're getting together as a community and there is quite a lot

of activity, people helping out I would say that everyone is doing

their best but we are still short on how to do better if it occurs again.

Because it will, I'm sure, and it has done before. From a progress

point of view, we are slow. And why did you feel that you had to take it

into your own hands? Cos they get fed up after being flooded in

January, when the water started to rise again. All of January, the only

way for me to get in and out of the house was by wearing waders. There

is no strategy. There is no coordination between the

authorities. There is not an action plan of what needs to be done. They

know that they are going to flood us. We were sitting in the car

waiting for this interview and we had a flood warning from the

Environment Agency. We had water in our house last Monday, but it is a

typical Environment Agency flood warning, and the water is going to

rise, so we are to evacuate. There is no factual information to allow

us to understand what is going to happen and how we could prepare what

we need to do. You're feeling out of the loop, unclear about what to do.

Do you feel reassured by the military presence? Absolutely. Them

and the firefighters have been really good. Once things have kicked

into a reactive mode, it seems to work. But it took a long time to get

there. The involvement of the fire and military have been brilliant.

Think you both. They do for your efforts. `` thank. Let's put some of

those concerns to the council leader. Starting with something that

Mr Webster said, it feels like the response has been reactive rather

than proactive. We mobilise very quickly in my view. We have been

working with the partner agencies to ensure that this community is as

safe as possible. And we will continue to do so. Why did you not

feel the need to call the military earlier? It is not our job to call

the military. Once the seriousness of the situation was known, that

military support was with us very quickly. Under has been concern that

people are worried. There is a lot of effort going on at the moment but

when the emergency services leave and the army leaves, people will get

forgotten. How do you reassure them that they are not? We are not

forgetting people. We're working hard with our partner agencies and

the Flood Forum to put in place all the advice that we can and all the

support we can. In practical terms, people like Ken will want to know

where does the council's job stopped and start in terms of the clean`up

operation? Our job is just art it. We will put in place the clean`up

operation with our partner agencies and we will be providing financial

advice and assistance and also insurance. `` our job is just

starting. They queue for your time. We touched on the clean`up operation

there. `` thank you. A few miles away, that is precisely what people

are doing. My colleague is in Berks. Thanks. I am in the garden of a

house in old Windsor. The first thing you notice when you come in

here is the carpet, rolled up on the front lawn. What has happened? The

lady who lived here had to cut it up into small pieces and carry out her

entire carpet, including the underlay, because house was

completed flooded. There is a skip outside because she happens to be

having renovation work done. It does come in handy because the builders

have had to bring out most of her furniture, especially the things

which have been damaged. Let's come into her house. Let us meet the lady

who lives here. She is busy with a huge clean`up operation. I know that

you have had to do a huge amount of work, please explain the extent of

the damage. I was completely flooded through the ground floor. It is a

large house and we just had to get everything off the floor or

upstairs. And you woke up in the middle of the night? There was a

roar in the middle of the night When looked down the stairs, the

water was plodding through the house. Have you had helped? ``

flooding. From the time it happened, I have had more help than I could

ask for, from friends and the local council, the army, the air force.

Firemen. I have heard every accent over the country. They have come

from everywhere. But too late to do anything about it. Because there has

been a lot of damage. It is right through the house. My daughter's

bedroom is on the ground floor and have another lounge, the kitchen and

bathroom. And the situation with insurance, do you have insurance?

Yes, but they could not come to assess until the water went away.

They are due to come tomorrow. Thank you for talking to us. Maggie and

her neighbours are in the same position. They are going to be

getting insurance assessments over the next few days, hoping for the

very best because there is a huge amount of work to be done in terms

of the clean`up operation. I cannot me imagine. Thanks very

much. You can probably see the flashing lights behind me. The fire

crew are just eating ready for a changeover. They are heading off to

believe some of the guys in Egham. Because the continuing things going

on have meant that people have had to cancel leave. They may well just

come out behind us. Flooding is not the only problem that has been

caused by the recent bad weather. Several sinkholes have been

appearing in several places. In one case, the ground collapsed

underneath a block of flats. Sharif is still in shock. I've found

him standing here looking blankly at his home. His house is direct way

above the sinkhole, a 20 foot crater that collapsed in the early hours of

Saturday morning. He and his son ran from the house as it teetered. My

son was terrified. I cannot sleep because they do not know what is

going to happen. `` I do not know. For two days, we have been wearing

the same thing. We could have died here. My whole family could have

died here. What part did the weather play in creating this sinkhole? The

structural engineers will not yet be drawn but the residents are clear.

They say that weeks of rainfall are to blame. This is not the only

sinkhole that has appeared. This is high Wycombe two weeks ago. And this

is the motorway a few days ago. Today, another in Watford. For the

experts that studies, the explanation is simple. In the

south`east, there is a lot of chock and when rain touches the chock it

dissolves it because it is acidic. Much of the area is covered with

other materials. Hemel Hamstead is covered in clay. The material gets

washed away with the rainwater and collapses. For those affected,

retrieving what they can from a damaged homes, the sinkholes are a

reminder of how even miles from the Thames, torrential rain is taking

its toll. Stay with us. I will be back with

more later in the programme, including a chat with some of the

guys coordinating the emergency services here. But now, let's get

some of the other news with Assad Ahmed.

50 people had to be evacuated from a street near King's Cross this

morning after flames burst through a pavement on the Caledonian Road A

full investigation is underway to find out exactly what happened.

A busy North London streets of this morning. The pavement is on fire.

Without warning, flames burst through the paving slabs. Luckily,

no one was injured. This man runs a minicab business nearby and when the

power went out, he ran into the street. I do not know how the flames

started but one I was out, it was quite shocking. It was half my

height. Luckily, no one was standing there otherwise there would have

been a serious injury. 50 people had to be evacuated from their homes

after firefighters brought the flames under control. It appears to

have been caused by analytical folds underneath the pavement. These

engineers have been here all day trying to fix it but this is not the

first time in London Street has suddenly exploded. The local road in

April last year. There has just been an explosion. And another. The man

next to it narrowly escaped serious injury. There have been about 5

such explosions across the capital over the past few years. Caused by

various faults in East `` beneath our feet. The power should be

restored here soon. The flames were not as serious as some incidents but

fuel concerns over yet another sudden unexpected explosion.

Figures released from a Freedom of information request show an average

of four strivers update are attacked or verbally abused in London. The

Conservatives on the London assembly who obtained the figures say that

over one third of incidents of old `` involves weapons and assault

They want to see more undercover police helping staff. Scotland Yard

say they will still continue to target criminals on buses.

Lisa charge two 17`year`olds with the murder of a man in West London

with learning difficulties. Dean Mayley died from a single stab wound

to the heart ten days ago walking down the street.

After being refused permission to expand, Pinewood Studios in

Buckinghamshire has announced that it will move to Cardiff instead The

company involved with making James Bond films had a ?200 million

development plan rejected after the local council said it was

inappropriate to build on green belt land. The new studio in Wales will

support around 2000 jobs. A cruise ship on which an elderly

passenger died after being hit by a freak wave has been passed as fit to

sail by the police and port authorities. James Winstead was

killed when water crashed through the windows of the Marco Polo. His

widow decided the ship before being badly maintained. This couple was

sitting in the dining room of the Marco Polo near the end of their

voyage, just yards from 85`year`old James Swinstead, killed when a giant

waves struck the ship. There were screams and shouts as the windows

came in. I thought all the windows have smashed, but in fact one of

them flew across the cabin. That hit the poor man who died. It was

really, really frightening. Of course, the big wave came in and

pushed two of the panes of glass out, which measured three or four

feet, a quarter of an inch thick. They flew out because the metal

surround holding them was obviously inadequate, and the windows flew

out. The other two probably shattered with the weight of water.

And one of them struck the man who died in the back of the head. And

the other one flew over the top of that table and flew over the tops of

the heads of people in the next row. And then it crash landed harmlessly

on the floor in the middle of the dining room. Otherwise they could

have been more really serious injuries. The sea water was coming

in, there was broken crockery, knives and forks all over the

place. And of course the ship was rocking like mad. Did you fear for

your life? Yes, I did. I thought about... It went through my mind, do

we have to get on a lifeboat? I said to him, do we have to get on the

lifeboat? I thought, those would never stand up to those waves, we

would just be turned over. James Swinstead's widow has criticised the

vessel is badly maintained. The operator said it was fully compliant

with strict maritime regulation It is now taking around 800 passengers

on a cruise to Norway and the Northern Lights. A spokesman said it

had been passed fit to leave port following an inspection by police

and the Port authority. Organisers of the London Marathon

have enlisted the help of an all`time great in long`distance

running to try to guarantee a world`record breaking race. Haile

Gebrselassie, who has broken over 25 world records in his career, will be

a pacemaker for other elite runners, including Mo Farah. Here is

Warren Nettleford. These gentle footsteps may seem

ordinarily, but his runner is anything but. He is long`distance

royalty. Haile Gebrselassie broke countless world records, has two

Olympic gold medals and won the Berlin marathon four times. He

cannot train as much these days but London Marathon organisers still

want him to be the pacemaker for the race. It is the best field ever I

can say. Including Mo Farah, world champion, Olympic champion, world

record holder. Both men and women, it is going to be one of the best

marathons ever. And it is job to get the best out of this year's

competitive field which contains double Olympic champion Mo Farah,

who will be running his first marathon. Mo can do something very

special, look at what he achieved in the last three or four years, it is

amazing! With a top line up in the elite race, organisers are hoping

for a record time. He will enable the athletes to go at a fantastic

pace and really, whoever wins, they will be the best athlete on the day,

and it is anybody's race. The entire field will be doing their best to

keep up for the first half of the race before the steps of the route.

He really is a great runner. That is it from me for now, back to Riz in

the flooded area of Chertsey, Riz. Thanks very much indeed, welcome

back to Chertsey Fire Station. If you have just joined us, this has

been the centre of the coordination of the flood relief effort for

Chertsey, because it was one of the worst hit areas. You can just hear

one of the guys getting ready to go out. I think they are going to

relieve another team in Egham. Someone who can tell us all about it

and has kindly given us some of this is dying is the area commander force

Ore Fire and Rescue, tell us what is going on there. `` for Surrey. The

oncoming shift are going out to a high`volume pumping unit in Egham to

relieve the existing crew there and we have put another pumping unit in

there to try to get rid of the ground water which is coming up

This has been a long haul for you, I assume lead being cancelled, how are

you coping? We are coping in the same way, trying to manage risk and

deploy resources appropriately to the risk. It is a huge joint effort

by the military, civil authorities, emergency services. We will go on as

long as it needs to be done. The biggest challenge to me obviously,

it is a huge area, a lot of people affected. We have got limited

resource, that is why we called in lots of different services to help

us. I will let you get on, clearly there is a job to do. He mentioned

it is a joint operation, lots of people involved, not least of course

the military. Let's talk to Captain Joe Sand and, thank you very much

indeed, how long have you been here? We relieved another army unit

a few days ago. In a few days we have been here, we have been

supporting in any way we can, from sandbagging houses to directing aqua

dams or protecting national infrastructure. People have said

they feel reassured by seen you on the ground. We have had an

overwhelmingly positive reception, the locals have been incredibly

supportive. We have had people bringing us cakes, it has been

really great, and that makes all the difference. In terms of you going,

one of the worries that people are saying is that they feel once the

emergency services leave and you guys have gone, they will be left

behind. How do you reassure them? We are here for the long`term, 24/ .

Thank you very much, keep those cakes coming, the guys are doing an

extremely, extremely great job. A few miles upstream from here is one

of the worst hit villages, and although we have been hearing that

the river levels are now gradually going down, there is of course a

huge clean`up operation to be, you know, that is going to be going on.

Gareth Furby spent the best part of a week in the village of Wraysbury

in Berkshire. The levels may be falling, the Fire

crews sometimes paddling instead of waiting, but it has been a very bad

week for Wraysbury. So many houses lost and lives ruined. I felt like I

was having a breakdown, to be honest. For 30 years, Tim has run a

boat repair yard from his Wraysbury home right by the river. I saw the

water rising, it made me feel sick. The water in the ground floor of the

zone was by high. The only place to live was upstairs. `` the water in

the ground floor of his home was thigh high. Evacuations continued,

this was a baby called Jasper. Three and a half weeks, he is fine, but I

have got a four`year`old who wants to see his mummy. I'm going to cry!

Immediately in front of us who have the children's playground, and

beyond that is the village green. That is where they play cricket in

the summer, but there is no cricket being played now, it is more

foreboding. But weather permitting, the

rebuilding, the clearing up. But it will not be easy. Once the water has

gone down and we are clearing the sewage from the homes and gardens,

that is when we will really need help. Many of us do not have flood

insurance, because we are not insure a ball, so it would be nice if the

Government could help us out. So when will all this be over? There is

only one place to look for an answer, the river, and at the moment

it is still flowing strongly. It is deep and powerful. The trend at the

moment is for falling water levels, but this could still change.

Wraysbury villagers and countless others are hoping that it doesn t.

And you can see more on that story and Inside Out London at 7:30

tonight on BBC One. As you heard in that report of Gareth's, water

levels are slowly going down. It is just starting to rain here, so when

we talked about that respite, let's get the weather forecast from Wendy

Hurrell in the studio. The good news is that the rain is

not going to be too heavy through tonight, and in fact this week is

all relative, it is looking try and calm `` it is looking drier and and

calmer. The River Thames is still on the way up because it is processing

water from last week. Any rain that falls will trigger river levels

quite quickly. There is a bit of respite, it does not feel like it

has lasted all that long, and there is rain edging into the west of

London at the moment. It will move slowly eastwards through the night,

nothing too heavy, it will be patchy, drizzly, one to moderate

bursts will go through as well. Underneath the cloud, pretty mild.

`` one or two moderate bursts. Fairly light winds as well. As we go

through the first part of tomorrow, we will start fairly cloudy, a

little bit on the downside, the remnants of the rain moving off

towards the east. The best brightness will be towards the

afternoon, but we have got one or two she was likely to pop up. They

will be quite well isolated. `` one or two showers. They will be

slow`moving, and there may be hailed as well. `` hail. Wednesday is not

going to be too much trouble, but we have this low`pressure system, the

next one from the Atlantic, coming in for Thursday, it will be around

for Friday and the weekend, keeping things unsettled. The squeeze in the

isobars will mean it is breezy, and there will be showers from that

occluded fronts that is wrapped around the low`pressure system. It

will be a case of cloud for Wednesday, still sort of respite of

sorts, there will be a spell of rain through the middle part of Thursday,

slightly drier and brighter for Friday. Back to you, Riz.

You can see more on the day's stories on our website, and we will

be back with the latest for you during the ten o'clock news. From as

here in Chertsey and the rest of the BBC London team, thanks for joining

us and a very good night.