Severe flooding grounded lifts in a 15-storey tower block for a week, leaving some people trapped in their homes.

Residents in Sendall House, Shaw Court, Battersea, were without lifts for seven days in the aftermath of borough-wide flooding on Wednesday June 22.

One resident of 33 years, Michael Riley, has limited mobility and was unable to descend the nine flights of stairs from his home to the ground floor and so missed his opportunity to vote in the EU referendum the following day.

Flood waters got into the lift shaft and knocked out the lifts at the block on the Winstaley Estate, as well as knocking out an electricity sub-station nearby that provides power to Sendall House.

A generator was provided to serve residents but the pumping away of water from the ground floor didn’t begin until Monday.

Some residents also complained that the flooding brought sewage into the lower ground floor.

John Marshall, a resident of 22 years, claimed a lack of action from the council had prolonged the repair of the lifts.

"Power was restored on Friday but the council failed to tell the lift contractors that there was power until Monday evening." he said.

"Because of the council's incompetence residents were trapped in their apartments for a further three days"

The first lift, which serves the even numbered residents was back in commission by Monday with the second not functioning till Thursday.

A Wandsworth Council spokesman said: "Unfortunately the torrential downpour which caused flooding all across London caused problems for this block. Not only was the lift shaft flooded but the rainfall caused a nearby electricity sub-station to blow which meant the block had no power.

Whilst the electricity company worked to repair their infrastructure, we arranged for a large mobile generator to be brought in so that residents had a temporary power supply.

"The normal electricity supply was restored on Sunday evening and we were then able to pump out water from the lift shaft and switch the lift back on.

"We kept residents informed by letter throughout this period and offered whatever assistance they might require.

"We’re obviously sorry for any inconvenience experienced by our residents – but unfortunately these were circumstances beyond our control."