West London woman’s home flooded by sewage…‘I slept the night in my bed, soaked in sewage’

A 74-year-old woman whose west London home was covered in sewage due to flooding says Thames Water needs to do more to protect peoples’ homes, writes Hannah Neary, Local Democracy Reporter.

Eleo Carson’s home in Holland Park was destroyed after floods damaged properties across London on July 12.

She says her property and many others could have avoided being flooded if Thames Water had installed special defences, which she claims she asked for more than a decade ago.

Thames Water says flood defences were overwhelmed by extremely heavy rainfall, and is investigating exactly what caused the flooding.

Eleo was away on July 12 and returned home the next day to find her ground floor and basement flat covered in sewage and filthy water.

She said the filth reached as high as 2ft in parts of the ground and basement floor flat where she has lived for 33 years.

She continued: “The whole of my basement was wet and stinking.

“Everything was saturated and the beds had soaked up the foul liquid.

“My bathroom was newly done and it was black with dried poo. I couldn’t send a cleaner in there so I had to clean it myself.”

Eleo said when she first came home she was in so much shock that she slept in her bedroom despite it being damp with foul water. She said: “I slept the first night in my own bed which was soaked in sewage.”

Ever since that night Eleo has been sleeping on her sofa and still does not have a proper bathroom to use.

She continued: “I wash my face in the kitchen sink and luckily there’s a toilet upstairs.

“There was not a single Thames Water van or person out on the pavement where we were waiting with our ruined belongings waiting for them to be taken away.

“We all know about climate change. We get storms all the time now.

“They are already happening more regularly. If this happens again in the next few years, I’ll be 80 and other people will be suffering again.”

Thames Water and Kensington and Chelsea council have been contacted for comment.

Picture: Eleo Carson