A top weather forecaster has warned that the flooding and heavy rain Wales saw this week will be the norm in the future. ITV's Ruth Dodsworth told WalesOnline that "many of us are not prepared" for flooding and people will need to adapt to wet, mild winters in the future.
The presenter and journalist, who regularly appears on ITV Cymru Wales and has been a guest presenter on Good Morning Britain, said this week's weather was something "we've seen coming for a long time," but not something people are prepared for. She said: "It is undoubtedly extreme but these are the weather events we’ve been told we have to get used to and prepare for.
"Quite simply, many of us are not prepared for this weather. It’s absolutely a deluge and there doesn’t seem to be any end to this. It’s one wet day after another after another."
READ MORE: The reason these floods, rain and high winds in Wales aren't a named storm like Eunice or Dennis
She added: "There’s no doubt that these severe weather events are becoming more and more commonplace, it’s what we’ve been warned about. Our winters are becoming increasingly milder and increasingly wetter.
"Wherever you stand on the climate change ‘story,’ there’s clear hard evidence that our climate is changing - hotter drier summers, longer autumns, and wetter winters. I think the problem is our almost lack of ability to cope - there’s no doubt we’ll have to up our game when it comes to flood defences. It’s not pretty, and it’s going to cost money."
Several parts of Wales have flooded thanks to the heavy rain, with 45 flood alerts across Wales on Thursday warning people that flooding is possible. You can find the full list of roads closed due to flooding here.
The River Taff and River Usk both broke their banks, and the A4061 Bwlch mountain road turned into a waterfall as flood water rolled off the mountain onto the road. Ruth put this rainfall into context, saying: "The average rainfall for January in Wales is 155mm, and in the last 24 hours, some parts of Wales have had half a month’s worth of rain.
"The Rhondda Valley in the first 11.5 days of the year from January 1 to this morning had about 375mm then the Brecon Beacons as a whole had between 200 and 250mm."
But Maerdy, in the Rhondda Valley, saw 87mm of rain between 7pm on Wednesday and 10am on Thursday - nearly half of that. Down the road at Storey Arms, 68mm of rain fell in the same period - both coming in at around half of the average rainfall for the month of January.
Explaining why the Met Office has chosen not to name the weather as a storm, Ruth said that even if it wasn't impactful enough to be given a name, the weather was "causing havoc." She said: "If that’s you waking this morning having to find sandbags and scabbling around, it’s abject misery."
The Met Office is forecasting clearer skies across most of Wales on Friday, although Ruth warned to expect more strong winds and a change of wind direction bringing colder air on Friday and Saturday. You can follow the latest Wales weather stories here.
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