A burst water main closed a road for the second time in eight months.

Belsize Road is currently flooded after a pipe burst at around 6.30am on Sunday morning (September 3).

The AA said the road surface was in "poor condition due to (a) burst water main on B509 Belsize Road both ways between Fairfax Road and B507 Abbey Road".

Bus route 31 is currently diverted.

Rose Cohen and her family were evacuated in December when a burst water main in the street flooded their basement.

Residents in Belsize Road were woken in the early hours of December 17 by firefighters warning them that their houses were starting to flood.

Many people, especially those with properties on the ground floor, were forced to evacuate to nearby Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre, in Adelaide Road, which provided them with showers and shelter from the cold.

"It was like standing water on the road for 24 hours and it was up to people's shoulders in the basement flats," said Rose. "It was very dangerous, people had to be pulled out of their windows.

"Everyone's houses were damaged. What's so scandalous is that it's happening again."

The family is currently living in Hampstead in a flat paid for by Thames Water and do not know if their basement has been flooded again.

Rose said they were first forced to refit their property following flash flooding in July 2021 when heavy rain caused major damage in and around the area. 

That refit was "ripped out" after the December main burst. "Our house is currently stripped out and now there's another one," the mum-of-two added.

"They say there are no drainage issues but I don't believe that's the case. It was so disastrous what happened. 

"I don't even want to refurbish the house now, it's a complete waste of time if we're are going to have to strip it out again.

"I'm very worried and concerned Thames Water aren't being truthful there."

A Thames Water Spokesperson said: “We’re really sorry for any impact on customers affected by the disruption in and around Belsize Road due to a burst pipe. “

“Our engineers are on site to repair the leak. All customers should have full supply and we are not aware of any flooding to customers' properties.

"We’ll focus on getting things back to normal as soon as we can." 

The water giant said that finding and fixing leaks "is a top priority".

The spokesperson added: "We are repairing over 1,300 leaks per week – whether they are visible or hidden below ground - that’s one leak every 7.5 minutes.

"We have over 480 people working to fix leaks with activity taking place seven days a week and over 400 people working round the clock and mainly overnight to detect leaks not yet appearing at ground level.  

“We’ve recently committed an additional £700m to improve water supplies.

"In London, we’re replacing 70 miles of our leakiest water mains pipes, having met additional requirements set out by our industry regulator.”