An indoor Swindon play area is battling to reopen for its final weekend after it was flooded by a major thunderstorm earlier this week.
Kidz About, housed in the iconic Spectrum Building at Mead Way, suffered severe flooding in the storms that hit the town on Sunday evening.
When staff arrived for work on Monday morning, pools of water were seen across the site and part of the ceiling had collapsed.
It has left staff, and owner Alastair Burnett, devastated, with the business set to close permanently this weekend after the owner took back the lease.
“Our last trading week has been cut short by the floods so maybe it's an act of god,” Alastair said.
“I am absolutely gutted as it is bad enough that we are closing at short notice.
Kidz About opened in Swindon during the summer of 2011. (Image: Dave Cox)
“We wanted to smash this week out of the park but to have that taken away from us is truly gutting.
“I have not even told my own children that we are closing so on a personal level it is really not great.”
Kidz About has been popular in the town since its opening in July 2011.
The flooding tripped the building’s electrics and these have remained switched off since.
Kidz About was badly damaged by the floods. (Image: Dave Cox)
“A lot of water has come out of the building today [Tuesday] which is reassuring as it does dissipate quite quickly,” said Alastair.
“It looks better than it did on Monday but we are yet to test the electrics as that’s the problem that lasts after the water.
“A lot of sockets and lighting have tripped so we are drying it off and we will have electricians to come in and try power it up.”
Water has devastated Swindon's Kidz About in its final week of operation. (Image: Dave Cox)
Alistair’s team has rallied together to sort the floods in their final week at the business in an attempt to reopen before Sunday’s permanent closure date.
“We have people cleaning up at the minute so we are having a stab at giving it a go,” he said.
“I am super grateful to the staff for their help, especially as there was no expectation put on them this week.
“Last week I told them they were all losing their jobs which was an awful thing to have to do but they still turned up to help so it’s truly heartwarming.”
A month's worth of rain fell in just an hour in Swindon early on Monday morning, and flash flooding left roads waterlogged across the town, as well as flooding properties.
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