Glasswells in Bury St Edmunds was flooded by last weekend's downpours, with gallons of water overflowing drainpipes and coming through the roof of the store.
A storm hit the western side of Bury St Edmunds on Sunday afternoon, and started to flood the 1.5 acre roof of the home furnishing superstore on Newmarket Road at around 4pm. The majority of customers were quickly evacuated from the store, although some chose to stop and help staff move furniture.
The flood water caused significant damage to ceiling panels, walls, flooring and displays across all departments in the showroom, as well as the restaurant.
MD Paul Glasswell says: “It all happened so quickly – we have experienced leaks through the roof before, but were taken by surprise at the sheer volume of rainwater that flooded into the building this time. We’ve seen nothing like it in our 75-year history!
"All the staff came to the rescue to help move furniture and we were pushing inches of water out of the doors with brooms and mops.
"It is too early to assess the full extent of the damage caused at this stage and we will be closed for at least a couple of days whilst we try to remove as much of the damaged ceiling as possible and dry things out. However, all hands are on deck to get the store back open as soon as possible. On the positive side, in the coming weeks customers will be able to benefit from water-damaged furniture items being sold at bargain prices as we replace our displays.”
The retailer states that existing customer orders should not be affected, with the company’s main distribution warehouse untouched by the storm.
