Phone lines fine after exchange flooding
Rossendale telephone exchange was severely flooded last night.
Despite 5ft of water gathering in the basement during yesterday’s heavy rain no phone lines were affected throughout the borough.
Firefighters were called to the premises on Foundry Street at 10pm after a fire alarm was activated due to the depth of the flooding.
Watch manager at Rawtenstall Fire Station Tony Spencer said: “When we were called out we thought it was just an automatic fire alarm call out.
“When we investigated it further we found that the basement cable duct, where all the telephone cables come into the building for the Rossendale Valley, was flooded severely.”
He added: “Water had been getting into the external cable duct under the road and a couple of seals have failed, allowing water into the basement. It had been raining all day but we don’t know when the water started leaking in. Five of us spent a couple of hours pumping the water out.”
The basement of Rossendale telephone exchange is around 40 ft long, 6 ft wide and 6 ft high.
A spokesman for BT said: “No telephone lines were affected during the
