First Minister announces grants for homes affected by Storm Bert flooding

Emily Price

Financial support will be provided for those affected by the devastating flooding caused by Storm Bert, Wales’ First Minister has announced.

During FMQs on Tuesday (November 26) Eluned Morgan said £1000 will be given to households that do not have insurance and £500 will be given to households that do.

Torrential rain turned roads into rivers and caused landslides in parts of Wales over the weekend as Storm Bert swept in.

75-year-old Brian Perry lost his life whilst out walking his dog near the River Conwy in north Wales.

Clean up

A major incident was declared in the Rhondda Cynon Taf region after between 200 and 300 properties were affected by flooding.

Locals were issued with a “boil water” notice after Dŵr Cymru identified that tap water could be contaminated.

A massive clean up operation has begun but residents in some affected areas have said they do not believe the chaos will be cleared by Christmas.

Questions have been raised about why the storm was categorised as “yellow” – the lowest level of weather warning.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) says it had issued flood warnings before the downpour but there was “no silver bullet” to managing the flood risk.

131 flood alerts and warnings, including two severe flood warnings were issued over the weekend with over 95,000 text messages sent.

Some residents in Pontypridd say they didn’t receive a warning until their homes were already taking on water.

Funding

Baroness Morgan has called a meeting with NRW officials and local authorities to “assess the situation” and discuss whether more could have been done.

Speaking in the Senedd, she said the finance secretary Mark Drakeford had “worked hard” over the weekend to identity additional funding for those affected by the storm.

The £1000 and £500 payments replicate the kind of support that was put in place following Storm Dennis in 2020 which caused devastation to large parts of the south Wales valleys.

In addition, the Welsh Government’s Discretionary Assistance Fund remains in place to support anyone who has experienced a disaster such as a flood or fire and is experiencing severe financial hardship to help with essential costs after an emergency.

The First Minister said: “Since storm Dennis, we have invested £300 million in defences to try and support people. And I think that it is important to note, particularly in places like Rhondda Cynon Taf, for example, where last time about 2,000 homes were affected, that, this time, around 150 homes were affected.

“That is a significant number of people who were protected as a result of the investment that went in by the Welsh Government – thousands of people protected because of that investment.

“And I think that that is something. Clearly, it’s of no comfort to the people who were flooded out, and clearly we’re trying to stand by and with them in these very difficult days for them.”

Coal tips

The leader of Plaid Cymru Rhun ap Iorwerth raised the issue of unsafe coal tips during FMQs after the extreme weather at the weekend caused an unused Category D tip to collapse onto a street in Cwmtillery, Blaenau Gwent.

The landslide of coal slurry and stone saw residents evacuated.

UK Government’s Coal Authority says it has been on site in south Wales assisting the Welsh Government.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves made £25 million available for the Welsh Government in the Autumn Budget for coal tip remediation.

Tips in Wales predate devolution and estimates suggest the full cost of making all coal tips safe could reach £600m.

Baroness Morgan said: “We’ve been asking for money from the UK Government for four years, and nothing was forthcoming until we had a Labour Government. And we were really pleased that the Labour Government answered our request for £25 million, which is what we asked for, because we recognise that this is a 10 to 15-year project, it’s not something you can put in place overnight, and there will be limits in terms of being able to absorb additional money, because there will be limits in terms of expertise, equipment.

“So, if they gave us the money, it’d be very difficult for us to use it all up because of the lack of expertise, which we need to build up. So, as I said, Keir Starmer picked up the phone, offered support, and we, of course, will be going back to ask for more money in relation to coal tips and I’m very confident that he will be forthcoming, as he was last time.”