London Panic: Central Streets Evacuated After WWII Bomb Found

Authorities evacuated several streets in central London following the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb. The ordnance was found by construction workers Monday, with police responding after a call at around 1:42 p.m.

Over a thousand employees from nearby businesses were evacuated as police cleared the area and cordoned off numerous streets in the Soho area. The move to evacuate the area came about two hours after the bomb was first discovered.

“Police said to our receptionist that everyone has to get out,” she said. “We came out of the office and were told to move. No time limit at all was given – it was just ‘get out of the office’ immediately. Within five minutes we all had to go.”

The cordon was later scaled back to just Dean Street at around 5:30 p.m. Numerous events in the area, including productions of “Mary Poppins” at the Prince Edward Theater and “Les Miserables” at the Sondheim Theater, are currently scheduled to ahead as usual.

The Imperial War Museum estimates that over 12,000 metric tons of bombs were dropped on the English capital city during WWII, killing 30,000. Despite this, in the modern day, bombs from the war are rarely found.

The last one, a 550-pound bomb, was found in east London in 2015.