A burst water main has caused road and business closures in Ramsgate’s Grange Road today (December).
The burst pipe, report early this morning, has flooded several businesses, including Rio’s Café -which is on the corner of Grange Road and Southwood Road – Grange launderette and Aysan kebabs.
Crews are on scene to fix, or replace, the pipe, but Grange Road is shut both ways between Vale Road and Willsons Road. Vale Road is also shut both ways from Grange Road to Ayton Road.
Stagecoach has a detour in operation for buses 34 and 45a via London Road and Nethercourt Hill.
Café boss Rio Bilgic said the flooding at his premises was ‘pretty bad.’ He added: “We had to clean out about 19 buckets of water.
“Southern Water said the main road and my road and Vale Road will be shut today, tomorrow and the next 4/5 days.
“Businesses flooded include me, next door, the laundry and the kebab shop.”
A Southern Water spokesperson said: “Our teams are on site repairing a burst water main at Grange Road, Ramsgate.
“The road is currently closed to allow engineers to carry out the work safely, with diversions in place. We’re working to complete the repair as quickly as possible. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”
“This is heartbreaking to see because it’s exactly how my nightmare started.
Southern Water told us our roadworks would last two weeks.
We ended up shut down for seven months.
It nearly destroyed my business, and two years later I’m still fighting in court because nobody takes responsibility.
I really hope these businesses don’t end up going through what we did.”
This isn’t just a burst pipe.Theres a whole stretch of road that’s been elevated above pavement height.And its on a junction by a zebra crossing. They’ve thrown gravel down to cover the cracks. This will not be a quick fix.