The flood in London did not stop at the property of Queen guitarist Brian May. The 73-year-old showed pictures of the flooded basement of his house in Kensington on Instagram. Carpets, photo albums – everything wet and full of mud. He blames the authorities for the floods.
“After a nice day at Royal Holloway College we came back and experienced the horror in our house,” Queen guitarist Brian Mai begins his Instagram post. The 73-year-old’s property was hit by the flood. The lower floor of his house in Kensington was under water and the floor was covered in mud.
Carpets, photo albums and valuable memorabilia were affected. “It’s gross and actually pretty heartbreaking,” he writes. “It feels like we’ve been attacked and violated”. His wife also kept mementos on the floor of her cellar all her life. “And most of it is soaked and ruined.”
Queen guitarist Brian May: “I’m devastated”
Particularly frustrating: The Queen guitarist had recently taken the photo albums from one of his other houses to protect it from a possible fire. “I had rescued all of my most precious childhood photo albums and scrapbooks from my studio house because it was threatened by a forest fire a few months ago. Where did I put it all for safety? In the basement here in Kensington. Irony of Fate,” writes he. And further: “Today it has turned into a sodden mess. I am devastated.”
Heavy rains flooded parts of London on Monday. Real torrents flowed through the streets, cars and parks were under water. The boroughs of Kensington and Chiswick were particularly hard hit.
According to May, cellar buildings to blame for flooding
May blamed the authorities for the floods in particular, because they issued permits for cellars that ultimately impaired the drainage system. “I’m angry. Historically, Kensington has never been flooded by rainwater in 150 years. Why did this happen? It is almost certainly the result of all the basement construction that has plagued the area for the past 10 years,” he writes.
Flood expert and activist Mary Dhonau shares this view. In the “Daily Mail” she also blames the cellars for the floods. “The water has to flow somewhere. When it rains, it falls to the ground and seeps into areas of the ground. Super cellars are built where the water would naturally seep away.” There are of course other causes such as climate change, “but the more we remove permeable surfaces, the more places are flooded. North Kensington is a prime example of land that would have soaked up the water and is now used for super cellars,” says Dhonau .
Brian May is now hoping for consequences for the local authorities. In another Instagram post, he wrote: “I blame you for all the misery that is going on in my neighborhood today. It is time you were called to account.”
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