Council praises staff who worked ‘tirelessly’ in response to recent storm flooding

Staff who worked “tirelessly” during recent storms have won praise from their local authority.

Caerphilly faced “atrocious” weather conditions thanks to Storm Bert and Storm Darragh, in late November and early December.

Councillors praised frontline and behind-the-scenes staff who dealt with the crisis.

Staff recognition

Council leader, Sean Morgan, said such storms present “significant challenges” to services, as rivers, culverts and drainage infrastructure “struggle to cope” with a huge volume of rainfall.

He said the storms brought “particularly bad problems” to Risca, Ystrad Mynach, Llanbradach, New Tredegar and Blackwood.

The local authority received 1,203 out-of-hours calls for support, and the response to 106 separate incidents involved hundreds of staff, councillors heard.

The council leader praised the many staff who “worked tirelessly to support those whose homes and businesses were impacted by the flooding.”

He said: “This was very much a ‘Team Caerphilly’ effort involving staff from many service areas, and it’s important to recognise the involvement of all those concerned.”

Workers cleared 130 fallen trees and issued 1,250 sandbags to residents and businesses, as well as rescuing flooded-out residents, while inspectors visited 104 road bridges across the county borough, and crews cleared more than 2,000 culverts and drainage inlets.

‘Running towards danger’

Councillors from all party groups offered their own messages of thanks and appreciation to staff across service areas, who attended emergencies and coordinated the response.

Cllr Lindsay Whittle, who leads Plaid Cymru in Caerphilly, commended their “amazing efforts”.

“When we’re all running away from those dangerous conditions, these people are running towards those dangerous conditions,” she added.

Cllr Morgan commented, “It’s inevitable that we will be dealing with more regular and more significant weather caused by climate change. And I would like to thank our frontline staff for the effectiveness of their response to these events.”