Eurostar travel hell as thousands stranded in London as floods spark cancellations

The flooding in a Kent tunnel which has led to the cancellation of all Eurostar services has been caused by a “fire control system”, a water company said.

In a statement, Thames Water said: “We have been informed of an incident involving a pipe flooding the Eurostar tunnel. We believe the incident is in regard to a fire control system and not a Thames Water pipe/asset, however we have a technician on the way to offer support to control the flow of water.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and offer support where needed.”

A video taken inside the flooded tunnel shows water gushing onto the tracks from a pipe attached to the tunnel’s wall.

The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) have warned that some areas of the UK could see “isolated tornadoes” today.

Experts issued the Severe Weather Forecast for central and southern areas in the Republic of Ireland, parts of northern England, the Midlands, East Anglia, southern England and the Channel Islands.

Brits in these areas can expect wind gusts to 70mph, hail, lightning and potentially isolated tornadoes until the warning is set to expire on Sunday at 6am.

“Low-level flow into the front will likely encourage a narrow line of intense rain, and the shear along the front may allow misocyclones to develop,” the warning said. “These will assist in bringing strong wind gusts in places, perhaps to 60-70mph. There will also be the risk of isolated tornadoes.”

It comes after a localised tornado brought by Storm Gerrit tore roofs off in Greater Manchester earlier this week.

Thousands of passengers are stranded at St Pancras International this morning as all Eurostar and Southeastern trains have been cancelled.

Flooding occurred in both railway tunnels near Ebbsfleet International station in southeastern England, meaning both tunnels are closed.

No trains will be able to run between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet until the flood has been cleared.

Over 40 Eurostar trains have been cancelled so far and Southeastern have warned disruption is expected all day.

The Met Office a band of heavy rain and squally winds associated with a cold front move across southern England.

A weather warning is in place in the region for wind until the early hours of Sunday morning.

Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent of The Independent, arrived at the Eurostar hub in central London at 5.30am – just as the first news of cancellations was spreading. He reports on the morning:

The scenes at London St Pancras International on the penultimate morning of the year mirrored those nine days earlier, when dozens of Eurostar trains were cancelled by a sudden strike.

As passengers processed the bad news that they would not be travelling as booked for their New Year plans, a contingent of British holidaymakers went online to organise flights – though fares were rising by the minute.

One family who had just arrived for their train to Paris for a Disneyland break asked for my advice: go home, get the car and set off for Folkestone or Dover, I recommended. Eurotunnel shuttles and cross-Channel ferries are still running to Calais.

A group of women from Leicestershire who were travelling to Brussels for a New Year weekend decided they would stay in London instead.

The saddest contingents were the Dutch, Belgian and French travellers trying to return home, bewildered by the increasing crowds and without an understanding of their options. Some were weeping as they told loved ones they would not, after all, reach home this evening.

The advice, in French and English, was to go online or onto the Eurostar app and rebook – though passengers were told no standard class seats are available for the rest of the day.

“We apologies for any inconvenience caused,” the message concluded.

Thousands of rail passengers have been left stranded after a tunnel near Ebbsfleet was flooding amid extreme weather across the UK.

Southeastern and Eurostar cancelled all services due to run through the tunnel this morning with cancellations expected to continue throughout the day.

Ben Saunders from Tunbridge Wells is one of the many thousands of passengers stranded at London St Pancras International after Eurostar cancelled dozens of trains.

He told The Independent: “We got here at the station very early, about 4am. We’re heading down to the Alps in France.

“There was a huge queue all the way up out of the doors. and after queuing up for a while, we noticed that the trains were actually cancelled to Paris.

“Eventually somebody wandered along the line and told us that there was a flood in the tunnel and we’d have to either refund our tickets or, or arrange them for a different date.

“It would have been nice a little bit earlier to have somebody at least wandering down the line and just telling people what was going on. We stood in the queue for quite a while before that happened.

“We’ve got connections on the trains from Paris down which we’ll obviously miss. So that’s a big problem for us.”

Mr Saunders was eventually able to book a flight from Luton airport to Geneva, from where there are connections to the French Alps.

Eurostar has just cancelled a further 15 trains to and from London St Pancras, taking the total to 43. An estimated 30,000 passengers have had their New Year travel plans torn up.

A spokesperson for the international train operator said: “Eurostar has unfortunately had to cancel a further 15 trains to and from London due to the situation not improving with flooding in the tunnels between St Pancras international and Ebbsfleet.

“Network Rail is continuing to do all they can and will update Eurostar if any services can continue later in the day.

“Eurostar is extremely sorry for the unforeseen issues affecting our customers and services. We understand this is a vital time to get home at the end of the festive season and ahead of New Year.

“We are doing all we can to rectify the situation. Customers are encouraged to visit the Eurostar website for more information on their journey and compensation entitlement.”