Cally baker Paul O’Brien

MORE than £5,000 has been raised to help busi­nesses in Caledonian Road damaged by catastrophic flooding, but traders say it will take much more to get them back on their feet.

Around 100 premises were affected by a burst Thames Water main in the Cally last Tuesday, which flooded cafés, salons and shops south of Copenhagen Street and saw residents evacuated in lifeboats.

A fundraiser set up by the Cally Traders Association (CTA) has since seen a surge of donations to help the worst-affected businesses until they receive compensation from the water company.

“Thames Water has dug this road up so many times in the past five years, you could mistake it for an excavation site,” said Paul O’Brien, who has run the Cally’s Sunflour Bakery since 2013 and chairs the CTA. “People are saying they have lost £40,000, £50,000 of stock. They are fighting for their livelihoods. They need help.”

Representing Caledonian Road traders and aiming to uplift the street, the CTA is also run by local economy officer Florence Cole, Caledonian Pharmacy’s Neil Gathani and Soto Coffee’s Katy Soto.

And while they are grateful for every donation and the total raised so far “sounds wonderful”, said Mr O’Brien, it won’t “touch the sides” – and those who may be in the best position to give are yet to put their hands in their pockets.

Mr O’Brien has con­tacted big organisations with links to the Cally – Tesco, Iceland, and even Arsenal Football Club – but has had no joy yet.

“If anyone who reads this is in a position to help, I hope they do,” he added.

Buses are still on diversion and the entire street is suffering from reduced footfall, with Sunflour’s takings down 20 per cent since last week.

Money raised by the CTA can give flooded businesses some immediate relief, but their future will also rely on payouts from the company responsible for the chaos: Thames Water.

Flooding in Caledonian Road

Owner of Zac’s Tailoring, Mohamed Zakaria – who estimates that his losses are around £20,000 – told the Tribune he had not heard from Thames Water’s loss adjusters since they came to take an inventory last Wednesday.

Mr Zakaria said: “I’m emailing and emailing, but no one is coming to help. I don’t take anything from the government, I pay everything myself. I pay my bills – and every year council tax is going up, but there is nothing from the council.

“The council should give some emergency [support] – for everyone to survive for a while. It’s really, really difficult to build back from nothing.”

Without his business, father-of-three Mr Zakaria does not know how he will pay his rent and bills, nor support his family.

“I have worked hard to build up my life, and now I’m at zero – I can’t pay anything,” he added.

Eleni Lasheen, who has run her beauty salon So Fab London for 18 years, is also waiting for loss adjusters to get back to her with a quote for compensation. “I have been super positive so far, but it’s difficult – it’s getting to me a bit now,” she said. “All my equipment is des­troyed. Because we came in and cleaned straight away it didn’t look as bad as it was, but if I can’t trade, it’s bad.”

Wondwosen Belay’s Ethiopian cultural gift shop, Herran Habesha, was still without electricity a week after the flooding, and Mr Belay estimated that his total losses could be as high as £50,000.

“I don’t feel good when I come to the shop and see all the stuff lying on the floor, everything in a mess. It gets you in a stressed mood,” he said.

Even if Mr Belay is compensated by Thames Water, it will not cover the transport costs he paid to bring items to his shop from Ethiopia.

According to Thames Water, the burst pipe has now been fully repaired and the roadworks are expected to be completed by 9 March, and last week a spokesperson apologised to those affected by the burst water main.

Cllr Una O’Halloran, Leader of Islington Council, said: “As council leader and a proud council tenant, I can hand-on-heart say we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with local businesses and residents affected by last week’s flooding. It’s at times like these that we see the very best of our borough, as people come together to support one another and get through this challenging period. However, we’ve unfortunately seen the worst of Thames Water. Our message to them remains simple: make the claims system as simple and quick as possible, so that our impacted residents and businesses can access the support they need.”

• To support the fundraiser go to: https://gofund.me/70d178f48