The dam that threatened to collapse and flood a valley
FIFTY years ago, a wave of fear and uncertainty hit a Welsh valley after a local man and his horse made a chance discovery.
Lynn Jones was riding his horse, Sali, at the Lluest Wen reservoir above Maerdy when the mare plunged into a hole around five feet deep.
Little did Mr Jones know that this discovery on December 23, 1969, would lead to the evacuation in January 1970 of hundreds of residents in a freak event that has been mirrored in England decades later.
Last week residents of Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire were finally allowed to return to their homes after being evacuated when a hole was discovered in a nearby dam, leading to fears it would collapse and flood the town.
Mr Jones managed to pull himself out of the hole and ran two miles to Maerdy Colliery to ask for help to free his horse.
Firefighters and forestry workers took two hours to free the trapped mare.
But the freak incident alerted authorities to problems at the reservoir, prompting the water board to carry out an immediate inspection which raised concerns that collapse.
It was feared that if the wall did give way, a 20ft wave would sweep through the valley, bringing devastation to the people living along the Rhondda Fach river just three years after the Aberfan disaster.
Secretary for Welsh affairs at the time George Thomas declared an emergency.
Families who lived close to the river were evacuated, seven schools were closed and workers from the colliery were transferred to other mines.
People as far down the valley as Porth – at least seven miles from the reservoir – were also told if the dam it could did break, it could impact their homes.
Eileen Merriott was 14 at the time and can remember being evacuated from her family home on Furnace Road in Pontygwaith.
“I can vaguely remember the door being knocked in the middle of the night and my mother going downstairs but she just came back up and went back to bed,” she said.
“Then about seven in the morning someone was banging on the door telling us to get out now. And everyone else in the street had gone by then, it was just us left.
“We were told to go up the mountain and we just waited until we were told we could go back to get some stuff. When we were allowed back, we were told to listen out for a siren and if it went off to run back up the mountain.”
The family were allowed back to their home to collect some belongings before moving to Trealaw to live with Eileen’s grandmother for a couple of months, but Eileen’s father refused to leave their house.
“We were worried about him being there by himself, thinking what would happen if the dam went. Our house was right by the river, our back wall backed right up to it.
“It felt unreal. For a long time after, all I could think was ‘We were in that house, the wave could have got us if it