Cracked dam flood risk threatens Welsh village

Some 150 people were rescued and taken to refuge centres in the Aberystwyth area after it suffered twice as much rainfall in 24 hours as normally falls in the whole of June.

Last night a police spokeswoman said: “Numbers in rest centres have fallen as people try to make their own arrangements, but some people are spending the night there.”

The worst flooding took place near Aberystwyth. Villages in Ceredigion were cut off, with houses and four caravan sites being flooded when the River Lery over-topped its banks in the early hours of Saturday.

A lifeboat crew helping with the evacuation at the Riverside Caravan Park at Llandre had to be airlifted to safety themselves when the force of the water swept their boat into one of the buildings.

Flooding in river valleys

Paul Mott, senior forecaster with MeteoGroup, said that 81mm (more than three inches) of rain fell in the 24 hours to 7am on Saturday at Trawscoed, Caredigion, while some areas in that region would have had 150mm over the same period.

The average amount of rain for the whole month of June in that area is nearer 70mm (just under three inches).

“That’s what’s caused the problem. All the rainwater has funnelled into the rivers, causing flooding in river valleys,” he said.

One flood warning remains in place in Wales today, for the River Reifi, at Lampter and Llanybydder. The Environment Agency says rainfall has now cleared in the area, but a second flood peak from the Upper Teifi catchment would slightly raise the level until later on Sunday afternoon.

Elsewhere in the UK, two villages near York were hit by flash floods yesterday, leaving properties inundated.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service said it pumped water out of Flaxton and Stockton-on-the-Forest after torrential rain yesterday afternoon.