Further drenching on the way forestry works are blamed for
ANOTHER spell of persistent rain threatens to cause further flooding in waterlogged areas of south Wales tomorrow.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for the area from Cardiff and Swansea northward to Llandrindod Wells and the A44.
It’s set to come into effect at 3am tomorrow and last until 3pm, as the system moves from west to east across the country.
A widespread 20 to 40mm of rain is predicted, with as many as 50 to 60mm reaching a few spots in the mountains of south Wales.
According to the forecast the rain “may be especially persistent over mid and south Wales, which contains catchments which are currently saturated and highly sensitive to further rainfall”.
Flooding of homes and businesses is possible as a result of the system, as well as delays to bus and train services.
Dan Suri, chief forecaster at the Met Office, said: “With further rain in the forecast over the coming days and the potential for another deep low-pressure system early next week, additional rainfall could create further challenges as river catchments are more likely to respond to extra rainfall more quickly.
“Flooding, especially in areas already heavily affected, remains a possibility.”
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is urging people to take extra precautions this weekend.
Jeremy Parr, head of flood incident risk management at NRW, said: “The forecast rainfall will be much lower than last weekend but could still lead to flooding impacts as river levels recover from last week’s storm.
“We’re advising people to take extra care over the weekend, especially while travelling, and to stay up to date on the latest flood alerts and warnings by phoning Floodline on 0345 988 1188 or by checking our website.”
The Prince of Wales visited residents and businesses affected by the flooding yesterday.
Charles met people in Pontypridd, which was particularly badly affected.
The heir to the throne popped into The Prince’s cafe in Taff Street and met emergency services staff who came to the rescue of those who needed it.
His first engagement in the country saw him test-drive Aston Martin’s new luxury SUV at the car-maker’s factory in St Athan, near Barry, and he also visited British Airways’ engineering base in Cardiff, where he was given a tour of a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner plane.
Residents of Pentre, Rhondda, are still clearing up following the flooding earlier this week.
The felling of trees by NRW has been claimed by locals to be the cause of gallons of water cascading down from the nearby mountain after debris ended up blocking the culverts.
A culvert is a man-made structure that channels water around an obstruction or to relieve drainage from agricultural land.
NRW’s duty tactical manager, Bill Purvis, has said the organisation will be undertaking a full investigation into what has happened.
He said: “This will ensure that we understand fully what has happened, what lessons can be learnt and make improvements to ensure we avoid any recurrence in future. This will include reviewing the adequacy and appropriateness of our land management arrangements. This review is a substantial piece of work, given the breadth and extent of the recent flooding event.”
Pleasant Street and Lewis Street were hit hard in the early hours of Sunday by Storm Dennis, and on Wednesday some of those living in Pleasant Street were flooded yet again after another, lower drain became blocked with debris.
Though an investigation is welcome, Lewis Street resident Chris Saunders said: “What I need to happen next is NRW need to put their hands up and accept liability, and if they don’t want to do that another idea is they can make an interim payment to residents, similar to what Dwr Cymru have done in Porth.
“They then need to have discussions with Chris Bryant, Leanne Wood, myself – maybe a committee of residents – to figure out how to take matters forward and then look at what steps can be taken to stop this happening again.”
Chris, his wife, Abigail, who is six months pregnant, their two-yearold daughter and their dog were trapped upstairs at their home for about 14 hours as floodwater persisted downstairs after coming in through the front and back of the house, as well as through their neighbour’s property.
The family was due to exchange contracts with a buyer on their Lewis Street home, but now they won’t be able to get back into the property for six months, a loss adjuster for their insurance company has said.
“We could visibly see that the trees were being felled, but it didn’t really cross my mind that it would be a problem,” added Chris.
“But then hundreds of tonnes of it was left on the mountain, you expect an organisation like NRW, supported by the Welsh Government, to take appropriate action, to be professional enough to do their jobs, and clear up so it wouldn’t exacerbate [the culvert flooding] causing hundreds of people to be flooded.”
Buffy Williams, who has been coordinating the efforts at Canolfan Pentre, also lives up on the hillside – known locally as the Moel – near where the trees were cut down. She’s seen the devastation hit the community physically as well as emotionally.
“Someone has to take some sort of responsibility,” she said. “I think everybody is just a little bit shocked now, I’m devastated for the people whose houses have flooded, I went to see one of our regular users and it broke my heart. Another burly guy and he was telling me how he couldn’t get insurance because he hadn’t moved in yet, was telling me about a lovely new Welsh dresser that is now ruined, and he started to cry.
“I live right by the forestry and the mess that NRW have left up there is unbelievable. It’s devastation up there – and that’s what the culvert was full of. Not just twigs, it was logs stuck in it.”
On Saturday night she said that the sound of the gushing water at the back of her house was audible.
“It wasn’t just the sound of the rain, it was the streams whooshing behind the house.”
Buffy added that on walks last summer the clearings in the forestry were covered with debris from the felling.
And she added: “The culverts up there were built what? 40, 50 years ago? Our climate has changed dramatically since then.”
The full statement from Mr Purvis said: “We recently clear felled 10% of the Pentre woodland estate, which was planted in the 1960s, to remove diseased larch trees.
“On Sunday, as a result of Storm Dennis, we received reports that wooded material has entered the watercourse and ended up blocking a grid to a culvert. We take the issue of flooding very seriously and since Monday our teams have been in Pentre working with partners, clearing grids, pumping out water and monitoring and investigating the cause of the flooding.
“A secondary instance of flooding took place on Wednesday into the following day, as a result of further heavy rain. This appears to be as a result of blockages in the culvert fur