An estimated 3,000 properties in North London have been impacted by a gas outage. On Sunday (January 12), water flooded local gas pipes in Muswell Hill, Colney Hatch and Hornsey, following a burst water main on the corner of Roman Road and Sydney Road.
Affinity and Cadent fixed the leak, but large amounts of water in the gas pipe network has left some homes and businesses in the area without gas. And in some streets, the water has travelled through the gas meter impacting gas appliances too.
Over 100 engineers were dispatched to the site, the first step being to switch off the gas supply at each property. Cadent cannot share exactly how long this will take as it is dependent on how much water flooded the gas network.
Cadent told customers that it can take just an egg cup full of water to block a service pipe. When all of the water is out of the gas pipes, Cadent will reintroduce gas.
Every property must then be visited again so that a safety check is carried out and the gas supply can then be turned back on. Cadent has said that “this all takes time” and therefore, the incident is expected to go into the weekend.
Stephanie van Rosse, Media Relations Manager at Cadent, said: “We have to visit every property affected and make sure the gas supply is correctly and safely switched off.
“Once this has been completed, we can start pumping water out of the gas pipes. We don’t know how long this will take as it will depend how much water flooded the gas network.
“It can take just half an egg cup full of water to block a service pipe- the pipe leading to a property. When we have all the water out of the gas pipes we can introduce gas again.
“We then have to visit every property again to carry out safety check and turn the gas supply back on. This all takes time and will depend upon the amount of water in the gas pipes.
“We expect this incident to go into the weekend. We have engineers from across the country coming to the area trying to get people back on gas as quickly as possible.”
Engineers will carry on going door-to-door to turn off gas supplies over the next few days. Residents have been asked not to try to turn off their own.
Cadent is also working with UK Power Network to ensure the electricity network is not overloaded during the incident. Updates on the situation can be found on their website.
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