TWO shops have been forced to close after a flood of water came through the ceiling.

The Cancer Research store on Epping High Street had two inches of water covering the floor after a pipe burst in the restaurant above.

And clothes shop Piccola was left too dangerous to go inside as rubble lay strewn across the floor and water was pouring through from upstairs.

Volunteer at Cancer Research Samantha Epstein said the shop could be closed for weeks.

She added: "I turned up for work and all the windows were steamed up.

"I opened up and there was about two inches of water on the floor so I thought I'm not going any further because it could be dangerous."

Her colleague Gordy Turner said: "I had a call from Samantha asking to come quickly so I knew something was very wrong because it was my day off.

"It's an empty restaurant upstairs and until the water has all drained they won't know if it's stopped.

"The thing that will hit us will be having nothing donated while we're closed. When we do open again we'll have nothing to sell.

"It's hard to tell how much of the stock has been ruined, but I'd say about 50 per cent. It could be more. Even some of the things we've taken out to save have been dragged across a wet floor. All of it is soaked so it will need to dry out and then we'll see what can still be used.

"As to how long we'll be closed, I have no idea. We will have to clean up all this mess first and mop the floor. It could be weeks."

Owner of Piccola Janet Marcantonio has run her shop on Epping High Street for 42 years.

She said: "I just came in to open up and the ceiling had fallen down and there was loads of water everywhere. Obviously it will be sometime before we open again.

"We have a lot of customers and I just hope they come back to us when we do reopen. We need professional advice about what to do next."

The water is thought to have come from Thai restaurant Lotus which sits above the two shops.

Sub Officer from Epping Fire and Rescue Derek Whitbread said: "There's a burst pipe in the premises above which caused the ceiling to come down.

"We think the owners are away. We have made the area safe but there's not much else we can do."