VITAL telephone lines into and out of Southend Hospital were plunged into chaos for several hours after thousands of gallons of water flooded basement electrical equipment. A water main at the rear of the hospital in Prittlewell Chase burst at about 12.30am on Saturday morning sending flood water two feet high into the basement storage rooms and damaging switchboard equipment. Hospital bosses were keen to emphasise that no patients were at risk during the flood. However fire crews from Leigh spent three hours pumping out the water from the basement rooms while emergency water was diverted for the renal dialysis unit and other departments. *Full report in Monday's Echo.
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article