Western Mail

I’m just surprised how upbeat everyone is... it’s amazing to see

Flooding in the wake of last month’s storms wrecked hundreds of homes across the south Wales valleys. Kathryn Williams spoke to a team helping get devastated homeowners back on their feet

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ALTHOUGH the thoughts and images of the terrible floods brought by Storm Dennis have subsided for many people as coronaviru­s takes over the headlines, there are still hundreds of residents in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) striving to get their lives back on track.

Some have lost everything and it’s been the little, everyday acts of generosity that have injected human kindness into a devastatin­g situation.

Tucked away on a Valleys enterprise park is a warren of former offices filled with volunteers, drivers and council staff buzzing around emptying and filling care parcels, stacking products and loading and unloading vans. The Tonypandy base is between two of the areas in RCT that were devastated by flooding – Pentre and Treorchy, and Trehafod and Pontypridd.

To date, more than 800 boxes of food have been filled, packed up and sent out to residents around the borough who need them. The vans the food are being delivered in are rented as the council’s garage was flooded.

Enforcemen­t officer Gavin Key is usually found monitoring dog fouling around RCT, but he and his workmate Gareth Hancock have been out pounding the pavements since Storm Dennis thrashed the area, helping clear houses and now dropping off much-needed essentials.

Gavin, who is from Tonyrefail, talked passionate­ly about seeing the community devastated yet galvanise in defiance of the floods.

“The first two weeks we were out behind the ashcart helping people clear out their houses,” said the 42-year-old.

“We were in Pentre, Pleasant and Lewis Street, Trehafod in Fountain Street, and clearing out the properties and trying to help them get back to normality.

“It was devastatin­g, heartbreak­ing to be honest, seeing all the stuff being thrown out. Photos of their kids, to the things kids had made for their parents, to the white goods.”

He said seeing the locals pull together has been nothing but what he expected from the community.

“I’m surprised how upbeat everyone is,” he added.

“The community spirit, too. It’s not nice but I think people are out helping, making the best of a bad situation and it’s amazing to see, even when you see some of the stuff we’re putting into the ash carts. We are here just to help now.”

Trehafod Road resident Kathryn Wilson was one of the residents Gavin and Gareth delivered to as she was about to go and view a temporary property. She has to move out of her home for six months while repairs are being carried out.

Kathryn, who only moved to the area last year, said she first met some of her neighbours when they were on her living room floor helping rip up the boards.

She says she didn’t expect any assistance so the food deliveries have been a big help.

“I’ve had a couple of calls asking ‘did I need anything?’,” said the 50-year-old. “My fridge freezer was in the back of the skip, everything was contaminat­ed, then all the different people turn up to do with the insurance company and I can’t go out.

“So it made it a lot easier thinking that I had something for tea that night. I didn’t expect or assume anyone’s help – I thought I was going to be on my own.”

Back at the distributi­on centre there’s plenty of action amid the piles of tins, boxes of cereal and a mega-hoard of mince pies, which came in from a local community centre.

Volunteers Mary and Richard Hearne are busy sorting items and stacking shelves. They are from Treorchy, a stone’s throw from where the lower block of Dumfries Street was flooded.

“I just thought ‘those poor people’,” said Richard. “We’re Christians and the church, Ararat in Whitchurch, asked if we could help.”

Mary added: “You don’t know what to do, you are just overwhelme­d by what’s happening.”

“We felt we needed to do something,” said Richard. “People forget. A fortnight has passed and it’s allover now… but it’s not. There are children not in school and displaced – there’s a long-term effect.”

The pair have been impressed by the tight ship run at the distributi­on centre.

Richard said: “It’s amazing when we had our instructio­ns it was ‘wow’. Pete has been here quite a few days and he knows what to do – so that’s great.”

That’s Pete Webb, from Aberdare, who started volunteeri­ng just after the storm hit the borough, asking for donations of food from shoppers in his local Tesco.

“The donations just started flooding in and I came here on the Monday, Monday turned into Tuesday and Wedneday. And I’ve been back quite a few times,” said the dedicated volunteer.

“The rooms were chock-a-block here; the response was unbelievab­le. People couldn’t do enough to help. People have mucked in all over and council staff too, the past couple of days we had guys from EE down too.”

Echoing those sentiments is Wendy Edwards – communitie­s service director for RCT council.

“It’s been a learning curve,” she said. “This was all triggered off by the leader’s (Andrew Morgan) visit to the properties. He went to one of an elderly lady and her whole kitchen had been destroyed and she was relying on her neighbours to give her some food.

“And that’s when he thought, ‘right we’ll make an appeal for food donations’ and people have been immensely generous.”

Wendy said that on top of local supermarke­ts donating, the council’s suppliers have turned up for the people of Rhondda Cynon Taf, too, with some providing financial donations in lieu of perishable­s.

She also added that plans for the coming months included storing furniture donated for people not ready to move back home yet.

“Out of a really awful situation you see everybody, local people businesses coming together to help,” Wendy said.

 ??  ?? > Residents of Sion Street, Pontypridd, pull together after their homes were flooded when the river Taff burst its banks in the wake of Storm
> Residents of Sion Street, Pontypridd, pull together after their homes were flooded when the river Taff burst its banks in the wake of Storm
 ??  ?? > Gavin Key of RCT council works with volunteers to help collect and distribute food parcels to flood victims in the area
> Gavin Key of RCT council works with volunteers to help collect and distribute food parcels to flood victims in the area

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