Wet day in Newbury

Flash Floods hit Voda and 3 HQs15:41PM Fri 20 July 2007

Flooding in BerkshireVodafone's Newbury HQ was evacuated this afternoon after knee-high floods gushed into buildings.A witness reported chaotic scenes in the car park as employees rushed to leave with exits closed, cars driving in every direction and many vehicles stuck in the floods.The car park was gridlocked in the afternoon, with many employees stuck for more than three hours.Water began to rise in the large lake around midday amid torrential rainfall, with water creeping up to the offices and canteen, then through air vents, and into the buildings.One employee said: 'The property guys were being told about the danger for a while and they ignored it. Someone ran through and shouted 'evacuate' very dramatically only after the water poured into the offices.'Employees on the ground floor were sent to higher floors, only to be told they had to leave later when the building were being evacuated.An eyewitness told Mobile: 'It's business as usual, except there is a stream of Vodafone employees coming out of the back entrance with their trousers rolled up and their shoes in their hands.'It is believed that the offices, which are home to 2,000 employees, may not reopen on Monday.Water was reported to be waist deep in some areas, with electricity shut down.Vodafone sent an email to employees which said: 'Dear Colleagues, as you will be aware the Newbury HQ campus is currently affected by heavy rain causing the buildings to be flooded. As of this situation the power will be shutdown shortly.'Over in Maidenhead 3 was also suffering from the effects of heavy rain, although fared much better than Vodafone.Brian Beard property and facilities manager at 3's Maidenhead HQ said: 'We've sent non-essential, non-operational people home. We've had a couple of basement floods here earlier. All the transport links into Maidenhead are up the spout. Our Maidenhead store had a roof problem, the roof partially collapsed, but it has remained operational.'

Vodafone HQ is hit hard by flash floods, 3 also effected