Brian May ‘heartbroken and angry’ as sewage floods his West London home

Queen star Brian May’s home has been flooded by sewage, destroying many of his belongings. 

The musician, 73, took to Instagram to detail the disaster on Monday, returning to his West London property from a day at Royal Holloway University. 

Brian discovered the lower floor of his home was mired in unsavoury-looking black water, and that it had damaged his carpets and rugs as well as his childhood photo albums. Wife Anita Dobson’s keepsakes had also been ruined.

‘We were have been invaded and desecrated!’ Brian May has been left ‘heartbroken and angry’ after sewage flooded his West London home destroying his childhood memorabilia, carpets and furniture on Monday

The guitarist documented this on social media, branding the mess ‘disgusting’ and ‘heartbreaking’.

He explained that his photo albums had been at another of his homes, which had recently been under threat of forest fires – yet they have now fallen victim to the flooding.

The rock star told his 2.8 million followers that the flood was the fault of the council, approving poorly-designed basements to be built in the London suburb with ‘ineffective’ drainage.

He penned: ‘After a nice day at The Royal Holloway College, we came back to horror in our house.

Sludge: Brian discovered the lower floor of his home was mired in unsavory-looking black water, and that it had damaged his carpets and rugs as well as his childhood photo albums. Wife Anita Dobson’s keepsakes had also been ruined

Ruined: The guitarist documented this on social media, branding the mess ‘disgusting’ and ‘heartbreaking’

Fuming! In 2018, May said the leafy borough of Kensington [pictured] had become a ‘hellhole’ due to the amount of building work going on there

‘The whole bottom floor had been inundated with a sewage overflow – which has covered our carpets, rugs and all kinds of precious things in a stinking sludge.

‘It’s disgusting, and actually quite heartbreaking. It feels like we were have been invaded, desecrated.

‘Anita had a lifetime of memorabilia on the floor of our basement – and most of it is sodden and ruined.

‘I had rescued all my most treasured childhood photo albums and scrapbooks from my studio house because it was threatened with a forest fire some months ago. 

Aftermath: He explained that his photo albums had been at another of his homes, which had recently been under threat of forest fires – yet they have now fallen victim to the flooding

He posted: ‘The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council was warned years ago that sinking so many deep basement extensions would obstruct the aquifers underneath our living space and render the drainage system ineffective’

Fury! Brian took to Instagram to rant about the matter

Claims: He claimed it was the council’s fault fir approving poorly-designed basements to be built in the London suburb with ‘ineffective’ drainage

‘Where did I put it all for safety? In the basement here in Kensington. Irony. Today it turned into a sodden mess.

‘I’m devastated – this stuff is only “things” – but it feels like Back To The Future when the photograph fades – feels like a lot of my past has been wiped out. I’m angry! 

‘Historically, for 150 years, Kensington has never flooded due to rainwater. Why did this happen? It’s almost certainly the result of all the basement building that has been plaguing this area for the past 10 years.

‘The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council was warned years ago that sinking so many deep basement extensions would obstruct the aquifers underneath our living space and render the drainage system ineffective.’

Elsewhere, property expert Kirstie Allsopp, who lives in the same area as Brian, also experienced damage and documented this on social media.

‘There’s been biblical rain in London, homes flooded & rain in places in our home its certainly never been before,’ she said of the unseasonal July weather. ‘If you’re away/at work and can get someone to check your basement/terrace/flat roof/chimney/French doors please do.

‘In some areas water is coming up through toilets,’ she tweeted.

A Kensington and Chelsea Council spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Our priority is to make sure residents who have been affected by last night’s flooding have the help they need.

Lost property: Brian and wife Anita Dobson [pictured in 2016] have lost much of their memorabilia to the floods

Elsewhere: Property expert Kirstie Allsopp, who lives in the same area as Brian, also experienced damage and documented this on social media

‘Overnight we have placed 120 residents in emergency hotel accommodation and are making emergency repairs this morning. We are making welfare calls to vulnerable residents and have set up a centre at The Curve in North Kensington where Council officers are on hand to support people affected.

‘Flash floods have affected boroughs across London after sudden and torrential rainfall. This is causing damage and disruption across the city, not just here in just here in Kensington and Chelsea and is not linked to basement building.’

In 2018, Brian claimed he was being forced out of his London home after his neighbours’ mega-basement plans turned his street into a ‘hellhole’.

The musician hit out at residents in his plush neighbourhood for blighting the area with noise and causing ‘unbearable disruption’ to his quality of life.  

Awful! ‘In some areas water is coming up through toilets,’ she tweeted

Jacqui Barber, 60, told MailOnline: ‘I was in the house and there was a lot of rain and it was torrential coming over the top’

In an open letter to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, he wrote that over the past decade his ‘oasis’ had been shattered by the ‘unreasonable’ building schemes.

He says the use of piling rigs, massive removal of earth and deployment of huge machinery resulted in intolerable noise, dust, polluting fumes and a loss of privacy.

The guitarist highlighted examples of underground extensions in his street, and said he anticipated more proposals will follow.

A series of posts on his website detailed the ‘misery’ and ‘stress’ he and his wife Anita, along with their neighbours, had endured for almost a decade.

Disastrous: This home in Maida Vale and its glass door showed exactly how much water had fallen in the capital yesterday evening

Chaos! Cars are left abandoned in around 2ft of water after heavy rain falls on a road in South Hampstead, north London

River wild! Flood waters poured through the streets of Portobello Road in Notting Hill after nearly three inches of rain hit the capital in just 90 minutes

In a post called ‘Basement Building Hell can Kill You’ – an apparent play on the title of his solo release, Too Much Love Will Kill You – May said the renovations left ‘anger inside me, frustration, feelings of being abused’.

‘And although I’ve occasionally let out a cry of something like ‘Basement Building B*******’, mostly this feeling of powerlessness in the face of an enemy that hides behind planning permissions has been bottled up.’

The musician asked the council to refuse all future planning applications, adding: ‘In the coming months, I will not be backing off an inch in the fight against the Basement Building Barbarians.

‘I will be battling on, for Common Decency, and the quality of life of the remaining residents. But I may do it from a home where I don’t wake up to being persecuted every day of the week.’ 

Drama! Rain battered the streets of London forcing cars to drive through inches of rain during thunderstorms in London

Brighter outlook: The weather is set to clear as the week goes on with higher temperatures expected into the weekend

May explained that after working hard to buy the home he dreamed of one day owning, he and his wife were planning to leave London, having reached ‘breaking point’.

‘Anticipating permission for these new basements to be constructed, we are now planning to sell up, quitting Kensington entirely, and to move out of London,’ he said. ‘It’s a massive disruption, and one we’ve been trying for years to avoid, but we’re now at breaking point.’

May added: ‘Kensington truly has become a Hellhole. You only have to walk around it to see. We will now be seeing more and more decent people quitting in disgust, in search of a decent place to live.’

Citing noise made by lorries in the area reversing, he continued: ‘We have allowed our entire environment to become toxic – hazardous to our quality of life.’

Gross! In St John’s Wood, one homeowner was left shocked as water began to splurge out of their overflowing toilet through their property

Wet wet wet! People sprint through the streets of Highgate in north London with their umbrellas to get out of the torrential downpours 

Londoners in some of the city’s wealthiest areas were waking up in emergency accommodation on Tuesday following the flash-floods.

Like Brian, many were left battling to save their treasured belongings after their homes were deluged with water and left without power.

Some families in West London had to shelter in a makeshift community centre after they were washed out of their multi-million-pound properties.

Tube and rail services were suspended after ‘biblical’ storms saw flooding rock the capital, leaving destruction across the city.

Flood waters poured through the streets of Portobello Road in Notting Hill after nearly three inches of rain hit the capital in just 90 minutes and in Raynes Park, south London, cars were left abandoned in around 2ft of water after torrential downpours caused travel chaos and left homes and businesses flooded.

Run for it! People are left drenched as torrential rain falls down on Turnpike Lane in north London, with the Met Office warning of floods and up to two inches of rain

Explosive scenes! Pipes begins to overflow on a road in Lancaster West Estate, near Grenfell, west London, after heavy rainfall hits the region

Over troubled water: A bridge is roped off after a road was flooded in south London, as heavy rain continues to fall across London and the south of England

Rinsed! A man gets absolutely soaked as he runs through the streets in Highgate, north London, as rain continued to pour down on the capital 

Meanwhile in Turnpike Lane, north London, people were spotted wading through the water in the streets as the heavy rain pelted down and flooded the roads.

Writer Liz Brewer, who has penned two books on etiquette, was hit by floods of dark water in her home in Belgravia.

She told MailOnline: ‘There were about 12 inches of water that hit my home. Fortunately I was out when it happened and I got the alert something was wrong.

‘It is the basement of my house, which is where my office is located, so a lot of my files down there have been ruined. Fortunately I have a back up of most things on my computer.

‘I am ringing the insurers this morning. My neighbours also had about the same amount of water come in. It was dark water, it’s never happened before. I’m sure there is a lot of damage in the area, fortunately it seems to be mostly in basements.’ 

Drive-through! Flash flooding in Putney causes chaos on the roads while commuters try and get home in rush hour 

Soaked! A cyclist is absolutely drenched as she cycles through Putney, southwest London, during last night’s torrential downpours

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9783087/Brian-heartbroken-angry-sewage-floods-West-London-home.html