Forecasters, environment officials and politicians have been strongly criticised over the warnings issued before Storm Bert and the fitness of flood defences to cope with increasingly common extreme weather.
A huge clear-up is under way across swathes of Wales and England, with hundreds of properties flooded and a former Welsh mining town hit by a landslip from a coal tip, leaving buildings deep in sludge and mud.
By Monday evening, there will still be more than 100 flood warnings active in Wales and England. A major incident was declared at Billing Aquadrome in Northamptonshire where people were rescued from flooded homes and stranded vehicles.
There was also huge disruption on the rail network in parts of southern England and Wales with lines blocked by flood water, fallen trees and debris. Fire crews rescued 57 children from a school bus after it became stuck in flood water in Worcestershire.
The Met Office was criticised for issuing only a yellow warning as Storm Bert swept in across western and southern Britain over the weekend, rather than amber or red.
A Met Office spokesperson said a “full assessment” of its warnings would take place but insisted: “Storm Bert was well forecast, 48 hours in advance, with a number of warnings in place ahead of the system reaching the UK.
“We work closely with partners to assess the potential risks of extreme weather, and the warnings covering Wales highlighted the potential for homes and businesses to flood with fast-flowing or deep flood water possible, causing a danger to life.”
The climate crisis means the frequency and size of floods in the UK is increasing and with them the long-term impacts on people’s mental and physical health, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
A rise in global temperatures of 2C would mean the number of people in the UK significantly at risk of flooding is projected to increase 61% by 2050. The world is on track for 2.6-3.1C degrees of warming this century under current policies.
In one of the worst-hit areas, Rhondda Cynon Taf in south Wales, where up to 300 properties were flooded, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) was criticised for not issuing warnings in time. A spokesperson conceded that some people appeared to have received warnings only minutes before homes were flooded.
NRW, which previously warned that the amount of investment in flood defences needed to be tripled, said there was “no silver bullet” for managing the flood risk in the area.
Sally Davies, a duty tactical manager at NRW, said a “very intense, localised area of rain” up to 160mm fell in the area on Sunday, and that the River Taff rose 300mm every 15 minutes at the height of the rainfall.
“But there is no silver bullet,” she said. “As a steep and fast-responding catchment, with much of the floodplain already built upon, reducing the flood risk is not at all straightforward.”
John Morgan, the manager of the Rheola pub in Porth, close to Pontypridd, blamed NRW for not doing more. He said: “This is the third time in four years that we have been flooded. Years ago, this river used to be dredged every year. Now it’s not dredged at all, it all builds up under the bridge. What good are warnings at three o’clock in the morning? What needs to be done is the defences, dredge the rivers, build walls.”
Dozens of people in Cwmtillery, south Wales, were forced from their homes as mud and water came up to their windows. Blaenau Gwent borough council confirmed the landslip was a “washout of a former coal tip in the area”.
One resident, Rob Scholes, said: “My neighbour phoned and said: ‘Don’t open your front door,’ so I didn’t and we just watched it come up. I really don’t think we’re going to get this cleared up by Christmas.”
The only severe flood warning in England and Wales remained in place at Billing Aquadrome, where a major incident was declared. People waded through water to escape the flooding, holding carrier bags containing belongings.
Huw Irranca-Davies, the Welsh deputy first minister, said there had been record spending on measures to counter flooding but it was simply not possible to protect every single home.
Heledd Fychan, the Plaid Cymru Senedd member for South Wales Central, said not enough had been done since the devastating storms of 2020.
She said: “This weekend’s events demonstrate that lessons have not been learned, leaving communities at the mercy of the weather without adequate mitigating measures.”
Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said: “We must ask why only a yellow flood warning was issued when the forecast was so dire. And given that these areas, such as Pontypridd, were so badly impacted in 2020, we have to ask why lessons have not been learned.”
The UK environment secretary, Steve Reed, said: “This government inherited from the previous government flood defences that are in the worst condition on record. We’ve allocated in the budget £2.4bn to upgrade our flood defences, better maintain those we already have, build new flood defences to keep people safe.”
