Shepherd's Bush: will we see flooding this week?

Heavy rain usually means worry for W12 and W6 people, who are at some of the highest risk in London of being flooded. And not just being flooded with rainwater but thanks to the antiquated sewers that flow under our streets, taking the combined sewage and stormwaters of much of North London down to the Thames, the prospect of raw sewage rising up through the floorboards is a real one.

Our Council have long tried to portray Thames Water as being the villains in all of this, when in fact they've been trying to respond with measures to deal with the short and long term causes of the problem. Stop-gaps to prevent flooding in the short term and new sewers in the long term.

But at the moment as the rain is bucketing down outside as it has done for most of today, with more forecast for the rest of the week, I hope we escape this deluge without anyone else waking up to a very unpleasant surprise indeed.