‘To live a normal life again, it’s a dream come true’: UK’s first climate evacuees can cast off their homes and trauma

Looking south along Clydach Terrace as it follows the bend of Nant Clydach. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian

When Storm Dennis hit the UK in 2020, a wall of dirty, frigid water from a tributary of the Taff threw Paul Thomas against the front of his house in the south Wales village of Ynysybwl. He managed to swim back into his home before the storm surge changed direction, almost carrying him out of the smashed-in front door.

“I was holding on to downpipes to stop myself being dragged out again. It was unbelievably strong, the water,” he said.