View report page

34 administration.
Orders sanctioning the construction of combined drains were made bv the Council under
Sec. 74 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, with respect to the following premises:—
In 1914.
Ashworth Road, Nos. 10-20.
22-28.
Chilworth Stieet, Nos. 18 and 20.
Coburg Place, Nos. 5-11.
In 1916.
Harrow Road, No. 53.
Irongate Wharf Road, Nos. 29 and 31.
In 1918.
Prince's Square. Nos. 75 and 76.
Queen's Road, Nos. 76 and 78.
Canterbury Terrace, Nos. 36 and 38.
Princes Mews, Nos. 15 and 16.
Westbourne St. Mews, Nos. 11 and 12.
Westbourne Terrace, Nos. 32 and 34.|
Craven Road, Nos. 26-30.
Moscow Road, Nos. 29 and 31.
Bristol Mews, No. 1.
Bristol Gardens, No. 30.
Flooding.—Two exceptional storms occurred in June, 1917, the first on the 16th and the
second on the 28th. On the former occasion 2T7 inches of rain were measured at the
Botanical Gardens and 2.55 in Harrow Road, the durations of those falls being 2 hrs. 15 mins.
and 2 hrs. 40 mins. respectively. The total rainfall measured on the 28th during the 24 hours
was 1.69 inches at the Botanical Gardens and 1.47 inches in Harrow Road, at which station
over three-quarters of an inch of rain fell in the course of an hour.
The Metropolitan sewers, originally designed to cope with a rainfall of one-quarter of
an inch (spread uniformly over 24 hours), can now carry off half-an-inch if the fall be uniform
throughout the day. That means that the sewers can carry the rain falling at the rate of
0*02 inch per hour. In the storm of June 16th the fall was at the rate of T04 inches per hour
—assuming an equal time distribution—and in that of June 28th about 0'75 inch. In other
words the hourly falls were 52 and 37 times the hourly capacity of the sewers. The result
need hardly be stated—there was back-flooding on a large scale of rain water and sewage.
The danger of flooding is enhanced in these davs by the covering of the roads with impervious
materials and of the adjacent grounds with houses. Much rain, hitherto absorbed into
the ground, now flows into the sewers. The maximum flooding appears to have been
observed in Saltram Crescent (6 ft. approximately above the basement level) and the minimum
in Marlborough Gate Mews (some 9 inches above road level). The flooded areas appear to
have clustered round the Ranelagh Sewer (from Willesden to Baysvvater Road), the Midlevel
Sewer (under Bayswater Road) and the Westbourne Grove Sewer. The railvvav lines
in the Borough were all more or less flooded, the "Sakerloo" Tube—the deepest of allsuffering
the least.
In a Report to the Public Health Committee the Acting Medical Officer of Health
remarked—
"Apart from a few isolated cases the flooding .... was confined to 6 well"defined
areas viz. (1) Kilburn Park Road and the group of houses round about the
"junction of that road with Shirland Road; (2) Netley Street, the lower end of
"Shirland Road and neighbouring roads . . . . ; (3) Senior Street, Ranelagh Road
"and adjacent streets; (4) the lower half of Gloucester Terrace and adjoining
"thoroughfares; (5) the Westbourne Grove district ; and (6) Great Western Road
". . . . In Netley Street a uniform depth (of flooding) of 4 feet was measured."
Within 10 days 174 complaints were received in the Department from 35 thoroughfares,
the full total amounting to 316, to many of which were attached claims for compensation.
The conditions found by the Acting Medical Officer of Health were stated bv him to be
" especially bad " in Netley Street and Ranelagh Road. At 96 houses the bedding in the
basement rooms was found to be "saturated with sewage and rendered quite unfit for
further use." With the help of the Scavenging Department all sewage-soaked bedding was
removed and new provided by the Council, 158 families receiving 255 mattresses and 85
palliasses at a cost of .£204 (or thereabouts). The time of the Inspectors of the flooded
areas was fully taken up for four weeks in dealing with the effects of the storm of the 16th,
which must have been aggravated by the second storm (on the 28th), although no special
report was made of the latter. On July 18th the Acting Medical Officer of Health was able
to report—
" All the flooded houses have now been cleansed .... and the rooms are now
in a fairlv habitable condition."
H.W. the Mayor opened a Relief Fund and a sum of £406 was collected.