Brian May has been left "heartbroken" after flash floods destroyed his "precious" belongings
The Queen rocker and his wife Anita Dobson were horrified when they returned to their home in Kensington, west London, from a ceremony at the Royal Holloway College - where the 73-year-old star had received an honorary fellowship - to discover the torrential weather had caused a "sewage overflow", which covered their carpets in sludge, and left "treasured" memorabilia and childhood photographs a "sodden mess"
15 July 2021
He shared video footage of the damage on Instagram and wrote: "After a nice day at The Royal Holloway College, we came back to horror in our house.
" The whole bottom floor had been inundated with a sewage overflow - which has covered our carpets, rugs and all kinds of precious (to us) 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. 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."
The 'Another One Bites the Dust' hitmaker was "angry" about the devastation as he believes it is due to the local council ignoring warnings about potential problems with the drainage system in the area.
He continued: "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."
The local council insisted the damage was not connected with basement building in the area.
They said in a statement: “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.”
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