EXCLUSIVE: Rush Green residents left without power following an explosion.

Residents living in Rush Green found themselves without power for over 24 hours last week following an explosion in the middle of the night.

On Tuesday 9 May, 286 houses stretching from the West Ham training ground, Rush Green Gardens and the Bellhouse estate had no power from 3am until 10am the following day and some still have no power.

Gemma who lives on Rush Green Gardens told the Havering Daily: “At 2.56am we heard a massive bang and everything went dark, all the electricity went. Then the power began to flicker on and off and we heard multiple bangs across the area. The power was remotely restored but it caused a huge power surge.

“There were two fires on the Bellhouse estate, televisions have come crashing off the wall, boilers have broken, Playstations have crashed.

“UK Power Networks arrived in the morning and one of the engineers told us that they believe it was due to a transformer that was over a hundred years old that blew and caused the power to go down.”

Gemma has since been left without a boiler for nearly a week now and is still waiting for it to be repaired.It is believed that there are over a hundred boilers to repair and only two heating engineers on site.

“There hasn’t been much communication and only two gas engineers here. There are many properties without boilers following this explosion.

“The power company has provided a van that has a microwave for us to heat up food, has phone charging facilities and a kettle fo us to have hot drinks. They have also sent a burger van down for food.”

Romford MP Andrew Rosindell and Brooklands Ward Councillor Viddy Persaud have visited the area to talk to locals about the ongoing situation.

A spokesperson for UK Power Networks told the Havering Daily:

“UK Power Networks engineers have worked around the clock to restore power to properties in the Bellhouse Road area of Romford.  Following a fault on the electricity network at 3.16am on Tuesday (9 May), engineers have safely restored power to all but a few remaining properties where access is required or work is being completed.

Our customer support vehicle and advisors remain on site to help residents and vulnerable customers and keep them updated. We have been providing hot food and drinks and offering a temporary power supply for charging phones, wifi and advice for customers while power is being restored.

Our specialist contractors are in the process of checking electrical equipment and conducting repairs to any items that have been damaged due to the fault.  

We are continuing to keep residents updated via letter including the offer of goodwill payments to those customers who are eligible.”

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