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Natural Resources Wales to review Storm Bert weather warnings

25 Nov 2024 3 minute read
Firefighters pumping water from Sion Street by the River Taff, in Pontypridd. Photo George Thompson/PA Wire

Warnings given to residents in Wales about the severity of Storm Bert by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) will be reviewed in the coming days, a senior member of staff has confirmed.

A major incident was declared in Rhondda Cynon Taf on Sunday, with between 200 and 300 properties in the area affected by flooding from the storm.

Council leader Andrew Morgan said the weather was worse than forecast and that he was “amazed” only a yellow weather warning had been issued.

First Minister Eluned Morgan said it had been “a really difficult weekend” and was “absolutely devastating just before Christmas” for those affected.

Sian Williams, head of operations north west for NRW, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday the agency would look into whether any part of its data gathering for the storm had not been done correctly.

Warning

Asked if NRW gave Welsh residents enough time to prepare for Storm Bert with its flood alerts, Ms Williams said: “Coming on to today now and into the next few days and weeks, every event that we have we do reviews of them, and we will be looking at that.

“That is a report that we’ve had from a few different places, saying that their people didn’t have enough warning yesterday morning, so absolutely that is something that we need to look at.

“Did something go wrong? Were the river levels that we use as triggers set in the wrong place? We don’t know yet what the timeline was, but it is important that we review it, that we look at it, that we learn those lessons.

“If we need to do it sooner, then that’s definitely something that we will look at doing.”

Severe flood warnings

Two severe flood warnings, meaning there is danger to life, have been issued for the River Monnow in south-east Wales for Monmouth and Skenfrith.

A further eight flood warnings and 21 flood alerts also remained in place on Monday morning.

But Ms Williams said the worst impacts of the storm had now subsided and that the forecast looked “good” over the next couple of days.

She said: “Thankfully, the river levels and the rain has mostly now passed, the river levels are dropping.

“We do expect now that those flood warnings and alerts will mostly come down today and tomorrow. We believe that the flooding has peaked now in Monmouthshire, so even on the slower-running rivers on the east of the country we do expect those levels to drop now.”


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Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
7 days ago

By the sound of it we have just lost another ‘hundred’ that response from NRW was alarming it/she is a shocker, the job is totally over her/their heads…chickens without heads and they the bosses get paid fortunes for what?

Were our alarm devices in the right place…this is a shambles of a way to protect a population…

What else could we expect from FM Bumble and Co…!

Cwm Rhondda
Cwm Rhondda
7 days ago

Andrew Morgan playing the blame game again. He usually blames the Tories, it is a nice change for him to blame someone else. Anybody who saw his interview yesterday on the news could see was bluffing, blaming NRW for his own failings to improve flood defences in RCT.

Karl
Karl
7 days ago

We knew the amber days before. Telling us the level of rain and localised flooding. As much as a extra system is nice, you do have to be aware for yourself also. I say this as someone whos family sufferend many floods in Trefforest down the years. Rather the question be asked about ways to allow the water to escape sideways into dedicated areas to prevent flooding. And the the return of the trees cut down and moss that died off after that cull. The street pictured is flooded often, residents have in many cases floodgates to prevent, so are… Read more »

Amir
Amir
7 days ago

NRW State that 1 in 1 000 year storm would decimate East Cardiff with their recommended level of mitigation if the proposed massive business park is constructed on the gwent levels. This storm Bert dumped more water than storm Dennis did 5 years ago. The recent florida hurricane was actually called a 1 in 1000 year storm as was the recent Spanish deluge. Please do not build any more unnecessary concrete structures on the gwent levels.

Brychan
Brychan
7 days ago
Reply to  Amir

When you say “storm Bert dumped more water than storm Dennis did 5 years ago” where did you get that info from? Rainfall from Bertie was 102mm according to Met office, with the10yr average for November being 111mm. Just a normal wet weekend in the valleys. What is evident is the ‘surge’, where the water flows down the catchment quickly and this might be to do with puncturing the peat plateaux with wind turbines and access roads coupled with the felling of 1.1million trees by the Welsh Government to accommodate it.

Amir
Amir
7 days ago
Reply to  Brychan

Met office. The effects of storm dennis was worse as rivers levels were already high from the preceding storm. Storm Bert was devastating as river levels were very low due to a very dry few weeks before then.

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