Weather forecasters and politicians have come in for strong criticism after hundreds of homes and businesses across the UK suffered devastating flooding in Storm Bert but the Met Office has said it issued sufficient warning.
There were growing complaints in south Wales, one of the areas most heavily hit, that the Met Office issued only a yellow warning, rather than an amber or red, and that not enough new defences had been put in place by the Welsh government since storms last wreaked havoc in the area four years ago.
A Met Office spokesperson said: “As always with a named storm, a full assessment of the forecast and warning strategy will take place with our partners. I would expect this to take place over the coming days.
“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.”
Hundreds of homes were left under water, roads were turned into rivers and winds of up to 82mph were recorded across parts of the country. Homes in the parish of Cwmtillery, Blaenau Gwent, were evacuated after a landslip.
Callout
The last of the Met Office’s rain warnings ended at 11.59pm on Sunday but strong winds persist and rain from high ground will reach rivers, which could disrupt clean-up efforts.
On Monday morning, there were more than 170 flood warnings in England and Wales and three severe flood warnings, two on the River Monnow in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales, and one for the River Nene at Billing Aquadrome, Northamptonshire.
A major incident was declared in the Rhondda Cynon Taf region on Sunday amid fears of a more significant impact than from Storm Dennis in 2020. More than 150mm of rain fell in 24 hours.
Between 200 and 300 properties in the area were affected by flooding, with local leaders expressing surprise at the volume of rainfall. Thousands of people were told to boil water before drinking it because of sediment being washed into a treatment works.
The Welsh first minister, Eluned Morgan, said it had been “a really difficult weekend”.
She said: “I think this is the second time that many of those have suffered as a result of the storm. 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.”
Huw Irranca-Davies, the deputy first minister, told BBC Wales: “It’s here we go again. These traumatic weather incidents are a pattern of our weather.”
He said there had been “record spending” on measures to counter flooding but added: “There has to be honesty. We can’t always protect every single home and business.”
Heledd Fychan, the Plaid Cymru Senedd member for South Wales Central, said lessons had clearly not been learned since Storm Ciara, Dennis and Jorge struck in 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 in place.”
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.”
Natural Resources Wales has previously called for funding on flood defences to be tripled to cope with the impact of the climate emergency. A spokesperson, Sian Williams, told the BBC: “In some places yes, there was a much more severe rainfall than expected. It stayed in isolated areas. It didn’t move across as some of these weather patterns do.”
The Rhondda Cynon Taf county borough council leader, Andrew Morgan, said he was “amazed” that only a yellow weather warning had been issued by the Met Office.
“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.”
The UK environment secretary Steve Reed said the government was allocating more money this winter to upgrade flood defences faster.
He said: “This government inherited from the previous government flood defences that are in the worst condition on record. Now 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.”
The Met Office says yellow warning are issued when “it is likely that the weather will cause some low-level impacts, including some disruption to travel in a few places”.
In north Wales, a body was found in the search for 75-year-old Brian Perry, who went missing while walking his dog during the storm on Saturday near the River Afon Conwy.
Another man, who was in his 80s, died after his car entered water at a ford on Cockhill Lane in Foulridge, Colne, Lancashire, on Saturday afternoon. It was unclear if the incident was related directly to Storm Bert.
Rail passengers have been urged not to travel between Broxbourne in Hertfordshire and Stansted airport after fallen trees damaged the electrical overhead wires, with no trains expected to run until 2pm.
London Northwestern Railway reported that no rail services would operate through Northampton station due to the River Nene bursting its banks.
Southern, which runs rail services across the south-east of England, said some services on Monday would be cancelled or revised because of forecast severe weather, including on its London network and the West Coastway line between Havant and Southampton. Great Western Railways warned passengers not to travel as it suspended services on all key routes because of flooding and fallen trees.
The fire service and South Gloucestershire council have reported flooding across several areas of the region.
About 350,000 homes in England lost power during the storm, though most have since been reconnected.
