Tahmid Sharif at the family home

A FAMILY who suffered thousands of pounds’ worth of damage after a flood caused by a burst Thames Water pipe have told of how they are still waiting for compensation, four years on.

The Sharif family were amongst the dozens of people who had waste water fill their homes during one of the hottest summers on record.

The structural ruin to their property in Lowman Road was enormous and treasured family objects were lost, but four years later they are yet to be reimbursed for the damage.

It was a burst water main which caused a flood several feet high in Hornsey Road in August 2022, and residents woke up to destroyed wedding dresses, family photographs and furniture.

“There was sewage water everywhere”, recalled Tahmid Sharif, “the whole ground floor, the whole garden. Everything was gone, the electrical sockets, skirting boards, the water got absorbed into the stairs, the walls had damp. My parents lost almost everything they owned, old video tapes with films of the family on, including my grandpa who is no longer with us.”

But this was only the start of the “nightmare” for the family, as four years later they are no closer to having the repair work done on their flat.

Flooding outside the Sharifs’ home after a Thames Water pipe burst in 2022

Mr Sharif said that both his father and his grandmother, who live in the property, are disabled, and the damage means they must now climb stairs every time they want to use the bathroom.

“It has caused a lot of strain between by parents”, Mr Sharif told the Tribune. “My sister got married but we couldn’t host people in the house because they felt embarrassed. I actually think that it’s put my dad in a depression.”

The Sharifs have been engaged in an ongoing to and fro with loss adjusters contracted by Thames Water, meaning that builders are yet to start with any of the repairs.

“It took us two years to come to a figure to do the structural work, like the levelling of the ground floor, but when we got our own contractors, they gave us a completely different quote, £20,000 more than what Sedgwick, the insurers, had said.”

Mr Sharif said it was “a matter of serious public concern” that Thames Water disregarded vulnerable residents and warned that it was a “profit-driven company” that did not care about the local community.

Islington have experienced two more significant floods in the past four years. The most recent, in February, saw a 30-inch Thames Water main burst in Caledonian Road, causing catastrophic flooding that destroyed businesses within a five-minute period.

Furniture salvaged from the flooding

Eleni Lasheen has still not been able to reopen her beauty salon So Fab London, and said that dealing with the loss-adjusters had been “an absolute nightmare”.

She said: “It is extremely stressful, it’s been like a full-time job getting anything out of them”.

Ms Lasheen, whose salon experienced tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage, said she had to email five or six times to even get a response. She said:

“You get to the point where you are in the red, stressing, losing sleep. This is my livelihood.

“The whole process is completely ridiculous. It’s disgusting.”

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We have apologised to the Sharif family for disruption caused following a flooding incident on Hornsey Road in August 2022.

“Following the incident, the family appointed a loss assessor to act on their behalf to handle claims relating to contents and fixtures in the property. Any repairs to the building itself must be authorised by the housing association, which is responsible for the property.

“While a scope of repairs has been developed, we are unable to authorise this directly with the Sharif family as the housing association is the party that must approve the building works. This has been explained to the family’s loss assessor.

“We and our loss adjusters have responded to correspondence about this case in a timely manner and we will continue working with all parties to help progress a resolution as quickly as possible.”