Flood-hit family who live in fear whenever it rains
A FAMILY are calling for answers as to why their home has been flooded four times in less than two years, causing damage of more than £100,000.
Frustrated Kate Marlow has likened staying at the address on Pentre Beili Road in Lewistown to “living at the bottom of a water slide”.
And to make matters worse the 32-year-old bank worker from Bridgend says that theirs is the only property on the road that’s repeatedly being hit by floodwater whenever there’s heavy rain fall.
“We moved into our house in August 2018 and all was fine until Storm Dennis arrived in early 2020,” said Kate, who lives with her mum, brother and their five dogs.
“All this water came running down the mountain road opposite and went right through the garage and into our home – the bottom two floors of which are technically below ground level because the house is built on a gradient.”
She added that everything other than the top floor was ruined – furniture destroyed, ceilings put through – and the family were forced to move into temporary accommodation while the clean-up and repair work took place.
“Unfortunately, because of our dogs, the closest pet-friendly place we could find was in Barry – nearly 18 miles away – and the arrival of Covid restrictions meant we ended up stuck there for 17 months.”
An initial council review deemed the incident a one-off, attributable to the freak conditions brought about by the storm. But 10 days later, the same thing happened again – and then a third time in January 2021.
“On that occasion I’d driven back from
Barry to let the painters and decorators in, only to find inside was soaking wet,” said Kate. “And now it’s happened for a fourth time following that awful weather we had earlier this week.
“That said, none of our neighbours ever seem to be affected – they can’t work out why it keeps happening and neither can we,” she added.
“There’s just farm land above us, along with an old quarry from which any excess water would drain away in different directions. Maybe something’s changed to alter the route of that run-off, I just don’t know. We’ve had a look around and none of the nearby culverts seem to be blocked or anything.
“What I am sure of though is that it’s like living at the bottom of a water slide and whenever it starts raining heavily any hope of being able to sleep at night goes out the window.
“It’s so stressful. We’ve reached out to the council for help but, after being told they’d look into it, we’ve heard nothing. Our last contact with them was back in February.
“And while our insurance company has been very good so far, there’s a limit to how often they’ll be willing to pay out. I just can’t bear the idea of losing everything yet again.”
A Bridgend council spokesperson said: “A great deal of work has been carried out to try and determine the source of the flooding. While it appears to occur during exceptionally heavy rainfall, the cause is not linked to the council-maintained drainage network.”