Flood-weary villagers demand answers after fresh deluge woe
How could a Rhondda village have ended up underwater again four months after the same homes were submerged by preventable floods? Lydia Stephens reports
PEOPLE living in Pentre, some of whom have not returned to their homes since February after they flooded in Storm Dennis, have been left heartbroken after torrents of water poured into their homes again.
Many are angry and frustrated that this has happened again. They want answers why and reassurances that it will be prevented in the future.
One of the causes linked to February’s flooding in the Rhondda village was a nearby culvert, which had become blocked after tree-felling by Natural Resources Wales.
NRW’s duty tactical manager Bill Purvis promised a full investigation into what happened.
But just four months later, and in the midst of a pandemic, flooding once again hit Lewis Street, Pleasant Street and Llewellyn Street.
This time there was less water and it subsided much faster, but it has still left people upset.
Leanne Capelin, who owns a hairdresser’s on Llewelyn Street, said her salon has been flooded four times this year – and many times before.
Leanne, who has worked in the salon for 19 years and has been the owner for 12, has had new flooring laid five times in the past five years.
On Wednesday, the salon was affected by flooding from the front and, more unusually, the rear, which Leanne believes might have been caused by the culvert being blocked once again.
“It has been one thing after another. I had my son in March and my partner works away.
“Thankfully, my mother could have my son, but I had to go to the salon last night and there were people wanting to help, but with everything going on I was so scared I didn’t want people to come near me.”
Leanne is worried that repairing the damage may now mean her shop has to remain shut for longer and that trade – already decimated by the Covid-19 lockdown – will be lost for longer.
“My customers who are desperate to come back to me will go elsewhere,” she said. “I can’t keep on doing this. I can’t keep paying for things to be repaired.”
She supports calls made by Leanne Wood MS for an inquiry into why the area is being repeatedly affected by floodwater.
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This week’s rainfall was lighter than that of Storm Dennis, but, said Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkhill, the rain fell very suddenly and with speed.
A nearby rain gauge, in Pontsticill, Merthyr Tydfil, recorded 11.8mm in the three hours up to 9pm on Wednesday evening.
To put that into perspective, it is about a sixth of the average rainfall in that part of Wales for June.
Mr Burkhill said: “The rain was intense, but the heaviest rain fell over a relatively short time. This often causes these flash floods.
“Surface water flooding the drains may make it look like they are blocked, but they just cannot cope with the speed of that amount of rainfall in such a short time.”
So the downpour overwhelmed the drains, but residents believe these were already blocked and had not been effectively cleared from the previous flooding.
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One of the challenges in such situations is determining who is responsible in a multi-agency response.
■ The culvert: Tree-felling was carried out by NRW. However, it has confirmed it is not responsible for maintaining culverts, and that this lies with the council.
However, its initial inspection of the culvert of concern in Pentre on Wednesday found it was clear.
Michael Evans, head of operations South Wales Central for NRW, said: “Our sympathies are with those that have been affected by the flooding following intense rainfall across south Wales yesterday evening, particularly those communities in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) still dealing with the aftermath of February’s unprecedented storms.
“Our officers are in Pentre to offer our support to the emergency services and RCT council, who are leading on the incident and also supporting the residents that have been impacted. We’ve been handing out sandbags to residents and placed them on our land to help channel any water from the mountain away from the village should there be more heavy rain.
“Inspections carried out on the culvert on the mountain above the village show no signs of blockages, indicating that flooding in Pentre was caused by the sheer volume of rain.
“We want to reassure these communities that NRW is committed to supporting local authorities to recover from these events and to work together to managing flood risk and building
Wales’ resilience for the future.”
■ Water pumping stations: Residents in both Pentre and Treorchy raised concerns that water pumping stations, owned and maintained by Welsh Water, did not work.
Residents in Treorchy were particularly concerned about this as the pumping station there had failed in 2013, causing floods.
However, Welsh Water confirmed the pumping stations and the rest of its network worked as expected and “did not contribute to the flooding”.
A spokesperson said: “Our initial investigations have shown that our pumping stations and network have worked as expected and did not contribute to the flooding. However, we appreciate the distress this has caused residents and will support Rhondda Cynon Taf local authority as it manages the impact.”
■ Drains: Some residents claim that drains were blocked with “silt and mud” left behind from Storm Dennis.
Drains on public highways are the responsibility of the local authority.
Rhondda MS Leanne Wood has called for an “urgent inquiry and action” into the flooding.
Ms Wood said: “We need an inquiry into why these areas are suddenly so vulnerable to flooding.
“This work should have happened already, even with restrictions around the Covid-19 pandemic.”
In response to the calls for an inquiry, a Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Rhondda Cynon Taf and all other Welsh local authorities impacted by widespread flooding in February have a statutory obligation to review the circumstances and causes of significant flooding.
“It is right we allow RCT and other authorities to complete their investigations so we can learn lessons and consider the best way forward.
“Despite the operational challenges imposed by the Covid-19 restrictions, RCT has made significant progress in repairing infrastructure damaged during Storm Dennis as well as its investigations into 1,030 flood reports.
“This has included the removal of 700 tonnes of debris. Inspections of 19km of watercourse infrastructure have taken place, including 12.5km of underground assets.
“We have increased our financial and practical support to local authorities and NRW to carry out all necessary repairs and accelerate the development of new flood schemes.
“We have also awarded an additional £3m for asset repairs since February and are providing 100% grant funding for preparatory work on new schemes and natural alleviation projects.”
RCT council leader Andrew Morgan said: “As leader of the council, I recognise that residents will want answers and will also want to know what can be done to stop this from happening again.
“From the information I received today from officers of the council, a culmination of factors beyond the control of the council contributed to this flooding.
“It does not appear that the culvert, which contributed to the flooding last February, was the cause of yesterday evening’s flooding in Pentre.
“The council will continue to work with Welsh Water and Natural Resources Wales to reduce the risk of this happening again and to provide as much resilience and security for residents as is practicably possible.
“The council will do all it can to support residents to recover, including providing financial assistance, as we did following Storm Dennis.
“It will also be important to provide the opportunity for residents to receive answers to the questions that they have rightfully and understandably raised, and to ensure that the community is engaged in moving forward.
“To that end, I have asked officers to urgently bring forward a report that looks into the causes of flooding and identifies what action needs to be taken.”