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VI
is bounded by Grosvenor Road, Horseferry Road, Regency Street
and Vauxhall Bridge Road. There were considerable areas further
afield where much damage was done owing to back flooding from the
sewers. This was due to the over-pressure on the sewers from the
enormous volume of surface water which had been deposited and was
seeking outlet; the sewer pumping station at Grosvcnor Road was
also flooded and was soon put out of action.
All basements in the area were flooded beyond ceiling level, and
houses without basements had 4 or 5 feet of water on the ground floor.
Unfortunately ten individuals lost their lives. The question was
raised at the time as to whether there was not some responsibility for
permitting basement rooms to be used for sleeping purposes. It
should be made clear that there are no legal powers for preventing
'persons sleeping in basement rooms so long as such rooms, if habitually
used for sleeping purposes, comply with the Regulations made under
the Housing Act. As regards the fatalities, only one occurred in a
basement room illegally occupied, and in this case the character of
the whole letting had recently changed. Previously a wholly occupied
private dwelling, it had been sublet as a boarding-house.
On the morning of the flood an appeal for relief funds was issued
by the Mayor, and with the willing help of members of this Department
an emergency relief depot was opened at the Council's Coroner's
Court in Horseferry Road. Temporary shelter, and the distribution
of food, clothing and blankets were organised. The personal assistance
of members of the Westminster Philanthropic Society and the
gifts of coal and food which they provided, proved of inestimable
value in obtaining comfort for the distressed. The development of
the relief services and an account of the wonderful voluntary effort
exerted during the period of stress will be recorded elsewhere and
require no further mention.
The insanitary conditions resulting from the flow involved much
extra work for the staff, and this was cheerfully undertaken. The
inspection of flood damage in the 722 affected houses, the examination
of goods and household effects removed either for cleansing or
destruction, the inventories which had to be taken for the purpose
of grants from the Mayor's Fund, and the disinfection of premises
after the peculiarly unpleasant effluvium from the Thames silt, continued
for fully three weeks without remission. Relief work was of
necessity closely bound up with remedying insanitary conditions,
and the Health Visitors bore a large share of the efforts to alleviate
the distress which prevailed throughout the area. Then there