Businesses count cost of flooding

By Emma Philo Mon, 24 September 2012 10:37AM

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A number of businesses on a Sandown industrial estate are clearing up after being flooded with water believed to be contaminated with sewage.

According to IW Fire & Rescue, seven units on Faulkner Lane were affected by up to a metre of water during heavy rainfall at around 1:34pm on Sunday lunchtime.

A large overflow pipe was said to be gushing water into the estate, affecting an area 100 metres by 25 metres according to fire crews.

Among the companies affected is Studiophase, which installs TV aerials and satellite tv systems. Mark Upson from the company told IW Radio: "A storm drain blew and apparently there was some kind of pump that didn't kick in to take the excess water away. Consequently we had a massive flood and about eight units have been totally flooded. We came in yesterday afternoon and had two inches of water in our unit.

"The fire brigade were brillant, helping to sweep it all out. But the water is contaminated and a lot of the equipment and consumables have to be thrown away. We can't use them," Mark added.

"Southern Water said that they are going to sort things out, but there is a lot of conflicting information. They have told us to get in touch with our insurance company, who will then counter claim against them for the cost of it."

"It is going to take us quite a while to get back to normal. We've lost our telephones, our internet and electrics in our office. Our computers are down, so we've got no access to our database so when customers phone in we can't give them the service that we want to. It's affecting our business quite a lot," Mark added.

The company was hoping to get the day-to-day business back up and running by the end of today.

A Southern Water spokesman said: "We are on site in Sandown helping affected customers and investigating what happened.

“The floods have been caused by torrential rain overloading the sewer system.”

Fire crews spent several hours pumping out the water, finishing at the scene at around 4:30pm on Sunday