BT broadband outage: flood cleared

Flood water in a BT telephone exchange building in Paddington has been cleared and broadband services are being restored, the company has said.

The major flooding at the BT exchange in the Paddington area has led to tens of thousands of customers in parts of North and West London experiencing a loss of broadband or telephone service.

BT said it is not possible to provide an "accurate estimate" of when the services will be fully restored but said its engineers were working around the clock to repair the damage and restore all services "as soon as possible".

The company stated: "The flood water has been removed from the exchange building overnight and power is being restored. Restoration of communications services to customers is now underway, with thousands of phone and broadband customers now back in service.

"This work will continue throughout the day and until all services to all customers impacted are fully restored. We will issue further updates as this work progresses."

As well as broadband and phone disruptions, some online merchants have been unable to process credit-card payments. For example, football clubs Charlton Athletic and Leeds United have suspended online ticket sales, citing the Paddington flood incident as the reason.