London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Storm Bert caused widespread flooding across England and Wales, damaging 500 properties, including 400 in Wales. Authorities are investigating flood warning failures and pushing for more funding to secure coal tips after landslides.
Over 500 homes and businesses were flooded across Wales and England, as forecasters issued another severe weather warning for rain in southern Britain.
Eluned Morgan, first minister of Wales, revealed that 400 properties, businesses, and infrastructure were damaged, while a review is ongoing to determine why some residents missed early flood warnings.
She announced that her administration plans to request more funding from the British government to ensure the safety of old coal tips after a landslip in Cwmtillery, South Wales, that led to evacuations.
Steve Reed, the UK Environment Secretary, confirmed that 107 properties were hit by flooding in England, with more flooding on the way, though it is expected to be less severe than those experienced over the weekend.
From 10 pm Tuesday to midday Wednesday, the Met Office has issued a yellow severe weather warning for areas including London, Essex, Kent, and Sussex, but Wales is not included.
The Dutch Weather Service (KNMI) has named the low-pressure system bringing additional rain to southern England “Storm Conall” which is expected to bring strong winds to the Netherlands on Wednesday and Thursday.
The UK Met Office, KNMI, and Met Éireann name storms to simplify severe weather communication. Conall is the third named storm of the 2024-25 season, after Ashley in October and Bert over this weekend.
Tragic incidents of loss of life were also reported, including the death of 75-year-old Brian Perry who was taken by rising waters near Trefriw, Conwy. North Wales police have informed his family and they are being provided with support during this tough time.
By 4 p.m. Tuesday, around 100 flood warnings were still in place across England and Wales, including a severe warning for the River Nene at Billing Aquadrome in Northamptonshire, indicating a significant threat to life.
Opposition leaders at the Senedd’s first minister’s questions asked why some people only warned about flooding when neighbours knocked on their doors. They argued that the government had failed to learn from the devastation caused by Storm Dennis in 2020.
Ms Morgan replied, “We will need to work with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) in terms of seeing if there could have been better warning.” She said more than 95,000 messages were sent by NRW and 46,000 customers were reached. “So, they did quite a lot. The question is: could they have done more? And that is something that clearly will need to be analysed.”
She defended the government response stating that lessons had been learned from the 2020 Storm Dennis, and highlighted that £300 million was invested in improvements. Morgan also said the number of properties affected had dropped from 2,000 in 2020 to just 150 in the recent flooding of Pontypridd and Rhondda Cynon Taf.
During the Senedd session, Morgan promised to provide financial assistance, with £1,000 for those without insurance and £500 for those who are insured.
More than £600 million is estimated to be needed to make all 2,000 coal tips in Wales safe.
A boil water notice was issued on Tuesday for Blaenrhondda, Blaencwm, Tynewydd, Treherbert, Treorchy, Cwm-parc, Pentre, Ton Pentre, Gelli, and Tonypandy.