Weather forecasters face backlash over ‘inadequate’ warning after Storm Bert left 5 individuals useless and a whole bunch of properties underwater
Weather forecasters have been criticised for providing inadequate warnings before severe flooding after Storm Bert lashed the country, leading to at least five deaths.
Rising waters today in the wake of the storm led to 1,000 people being evacuated from a caravan park in Northamptonshire.
It comes after the South Wales valleys were among the worst-hit areas when close to a month’s rain fell through Saturday and Sunday, hitting hundreds of homes and businesses.
Politicians have queried why only a yellow weather warning had been issued for the area rather than a more severe amber or red one.
The clear-up was underway today in towns such as Pontypridd, while in nearby Abertillery, safety assessments were being made on an old coal tip after a landslip developed threatening dozens of homes.
Residents were forced to evacuate – some by torchlight. Sarah Ware, among those who had to flee, said: ‘It was an old coal pit on the mountain behind us that had a landslide causing sludge, debris, bricks and trees to come down into us from behind. It caused sheds to collapse and back gardens to fill’.
On being told to evacuate, she added: ‘We didn’t have long to pack a few suitcases and pack our cat’s stuff.’The small Monmouthshire town is around 12 miles east of Aberfan, where a spoil tip collapsed in 1966, engulfing a primary school and houses killing 116 children and 28 adults in Britain’s worst mining disaster.
Andrew Morgan, council leader for Rhondda Cynon Taf, which includes Pontypridd and where 200-300 properties were flooded across the borough, said he was ‘amazed’ the area only had a yellow warning.
Billing Aquadrome Holiday Park in Northampton flooded with heavy rain on Monday
A resident walks to his home through a mud-covered street in Cwmtillery in South Wales
Firefighters pump water from a street by the River Taff in Pontypridd, Wales
It compares with amber and red warnings during Storm Dennis in February 2020 – when the area last experienced severe floods.
He said: ‘During Storm Dennis we saw an amber warning in advance and a red warning issued in the early hours. I do think that will need to be reviewed shortly.’
At Tyn-y-Waun, at the top of the Rhondda Valley, 158.2mm (6.22ins) of rain fell on Saturday and Sunday, compared with the November average of around 180mm (7.1ins) for that area.
Welsh Conservatives leader Andrew RT Davies said: ‘We must ask why only a yellow flood warning was issued when the forecast was so dire.
‘Given that these areas, such as Pontypridd, were so badly impacted in 2020, we have to ask why lessons have not been learned.’The Welsh government said improvements have been to flood defences since 2020, when 1,400 Rhondda Cynon Taff homes and businesses were left underwater.
First Minister Eluned Morgan said: ‘There’s been huge investments since the last storm hit, so we’ve managed to protect lots more properties than last time.
‘But obviously this is absolutely devastating just before Christmas for those people who have been impacted.’Elsewhere, West Mercia Police said they were ‘actively investigating’ after a tractor driver was filmed travelling through flooded streets in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, on Sunday.
It created a powerful ‘bow wave’ effect which exacerbated the damage by breaking windows and forcing open doors.
In Northamptonshire, 1,000 residents of the Billing Aquadrome caravan park were evacuated yesterday after rising water from the River Nene saw a major incident declared and a danger to life warning issued.
Rail services in Northampton were axed yesterday after the tracks through its station were completely submerged.
Across England on Monday afternoon, there were 123 flood warnings, meaning flooding is likely, and 150 lower-level flood alerts.
In Greater Manchester, police, fire crews, mountain rescue, paramedics and a coastguard helicopter searched for a missing man last seen in the Roch Valley area of Heywood on Sunday morning.
There have been at least five earlier deaths over the weekend linked to the storm. A body was found on Sunday after a search around the swollen River Conwy, near Trefriw, North Wales, after pensioner Brian Perry, 75, was reported missing 24 hours earlier.
A car drives through floods near Billing Aquadrome in Northampton following torrential downpours from Storm Bert
A road and pavement submerged in water near the River Ouse in York
Waterlogged sports courts in Ynysangharad Park near the River Taff in Pontypridd
A flooded road near to Billing Aquadrome in Northamptonshire
Swans swim by a restaurant in a flooded area in Northamptonshire
An emergency vehicle drives through the flood water. Political leaders have questioned why only a yellow weather warning was issued despite bleak forecasts
On Saturday, a 34-year-old man whose car collided with a wall in the snow in Shipley, West Yorkshire, just before 1pm. He was named locally as Mohammed Wahid, 34.
In three other incidents the same day, a man in his 60s died when his black Mercedes was hit by a tree on the A34 at Winnall, Hampshire, at 8am, while a man in his 40s died in a two-vehicle crash on the A45 near Flore, Northamptonshire, at 8.20am, and a man in his 80s died after his car entered water near Colne, Lancs., after 4.15pm.
The Meteorological Office said it had published warnings and named the storm 48 hours in advance.
Simon Brown, Met Office service director, said: ‘The warnings covering Wales highlighted the potential for homes and businesses to flood with fast flowing or deep floodwater was possible, causing a danger to life.’
ADD: The caravan park residents in Northampton were asked to leave their homes at 3.30pm as waters rose and later in the day the caravans could be seen surrounded by deep water.
The River Avon, at Chippenham, Wiltshire, burst its banks leaving the town centre underwater, while some South Wales residents were urged to boil water amid contamination fears.
