Western Mail

Floods and travel chaos as heavy rain sweeps in

- LIZ PERKINS Reporter elizabeth.perkins@walesonlin­e.co.uk

MAJOR disruption over the weekend was sparked by more heavy rainfall, a month on from the devastatin­g impact of Storm Callum.

Pembrokesh­ire and Carmarthen­shire saw the worst of the weather on Friday night, with some homes in Milford Haven under 10ft of water.

And Natural Resources Wales put in place 13 flood alerts in the southwest of the country as homeowners feared the impact of further heavy rain, with homes in Solva and Haverfordw­est also suffering flooding.

A yellow weather warning was in place for the two worst-hit counties until 11pm on Saturday.

Forecaster­s warned the risk of flooding would persist in large parts of Wales as heavy rain had led rivers to be at breaking point.

More than 1,000 properties were left without power due to the combinatio­n of heavy rain and wind.

Western Power Distributi­on worked around the clock to restore most of the outages, with the biggest challenge faced by engineers being the rain.

When the weather conditions were at their peak, taxis replaced trains between Haverfordw­est and Milford Haven, and there were reports from Traffic Wales of people having to be evacuated from Lower Priory in Milford Haven due to flooding on a majority of roads.

A series of road closures were put in place around Pembrokesh­ire, Carmarthen­shire and Rhondda Cynon Taf on Saturday morning.

They ranged from the A487 near Newgale, Pembrokesh­ire, the A4061 Rhigos Road, Rhondda Cynon Taf, the A4069 near Pont-ar-Llechau, Carmarthen­shire, and the A4252 Coracle Way in Carmarthen.

Work was carried out by Natural Resources Wales to look at flood defences and people were urged to take care near fast-flowing and swollen rivers.

Met Office forecaster Alex Deakin said there could be more bad weather on its way.

He said that today, sunshine and showers are likely to continue, the showers sometimes heavy with local thunder.

While it will be milder, it will feel cool due to a brisk southerly wind with maximum temperatur­es of 13C.

Apart from an isolated shower, tomorrow looks as if it will be dry with sunshine.

But Wednesday will be cloudier and windier with patchy rain, chiefly in the west, although the weather looks to calm down on Thursday with finer weather on its way.

 ?? Vickie Pearson ?? > Flooding at McDonald’s in Merlin’s Bridge, near Haverfordw­est
Vickie Pearson > Flooding at McDonald’s in Merlin’s Bridge, near Haverfordw­est

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