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Evacuations were under way after dramatic floods hit a north London neighbourhood.

Parts of Finsbury Park were submerged after a water main burst at the junction of Queen’s Drive and Princess Crescent at about 7.45am on Tuesday.

The flow of water had only stopped by 1.45pm after engineers managed to shut the valve.

Pictures and video from the scene showed people wading through fast-moving ankle-deep water.

Finsbury Park flooding - In pictures 21 show all Finsbury Park flooding - In pictures 1/21 PA 2/21 PA 3/21 PA 4/21 PA 5/21 @Kareemios 6/21 PA 7/21 PA 8/21 PA 9/21 PA 10/21 PA 11/21 PA 12/21 PA 13/21 @SteveAStubbs 14/21 @SteveAStubbs 15/21 @SteveAStubbs 16/21 PA 17/21 The flooding in Finsbury Park on Tuesday morning Lenny Martin 18/21 The flooding in Finsbury Park this morning Lenny Martin 19/21 PA 20/21 Johnny Briggs via Reuters 21/21 PA 1/21 PA 2/21 PA 3/21 PA 4/21 PA 5/21 @Kareemios 6/21 PA 7/21 PA 8/21 PA 9/21 PA 10/21 PA 11/21 PA 12/21 PA 13/21 @SteveAStubbs 14/21 @SteveAStubbs 15/21 @SteveAStubbs 16/21 PA 17/21 The flooding in Finsbury Park on Tuesday morning Lenny Martin 18/21 The flooding in Finsbury Park this morning Lenny Martin 19/21 PA 20/21 Johnny Briggs via Reuters 21/21 PA

London Fire Brigade said 12 fire engines and 80 firefighters were called to the scene, with a number of basement flats flooded.

A 600 by 200 metre area was hit, with firefighters evacuating neighbours from affected properties.

One woman was pictured on the street with her evacuated cats in cages, while another was seen drying her feet.

Onlooker Lorraine Pearson told the Islington Gazette that Queen's Drive was "running like rapids, all swirling water".

She said: "The water is coming up three foot out of the ground. I have never seen anything like this."

Steve Stubbs, who lives in a fourth-floor flat, told the PA news agency: "My water didn't work when I went to grab a drink of water.

"Then I checked Twitter and saw one tweet about a flood on Queens Drive. I thought: 'Oh, that's where we are'. I opened the balcony door and saw this river flowing down the road."

Thames Water said in a statement: “One of our large water mains on Queen's Drive in London N4 has burst this morning. This has caused flooding to properties in the immediate area, and has also caused customers in N1, N4, N5, N7 and N19 to experience low water pressure or no water supply.

"We’re working with the emergency services to make the flooded area safe, and have teams on site ready to support those impacted by the flooding once we’ve done this.

"Our specialist engineers have been hard at work on site in N4 and have now completed the complex task of shutting valves to stop the flow of water from our main.

"Many customers are now back in supply but some may still be experiencing low pressure or air locks, and we expect to bring the remainder of customers back into supply later this afternoon."