A central London network node belonging to BT disastrously flooded and caught fire yesterday.

The incident at Burne House in north Paddington affected landlines, broadband and mobile services across the west of London. Over  400 local exchanges are connected from this site, so connectivity was also affected across the south east and further afield.

“The flood water has been removed from the exchange building overnight and power supply has begun to be restored,” BT said this morning.

“We are now beginning to restore communications services to customers and this work will continue throughout the day.”

The impact of the great torrent/inferno was even felt on the continent. There have been reports that roaming for Vodafone, O2 and 3 customers in Austria is currently down, with operators pointing the finger at Paddington.

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