Flooding Statement – Council Leader
Leader of the Council, Councillor Andrew Morgan, said: “Last night, communities across Rhondda Cynon Taf experienced unprecedented levels of rainfall during a short space of time, with 26mm falling over the space of just twenty minutes. As a consequence, communities including Pentre, which were devastated by flooding earlier this year, were once again hit hard.
“As the Leader of the Council, I recognise that residents will want answers and will also want to know what can be done to stop this from happening again.
“From the information I received today from Officers of the Council, a culmination of factors beyond the control of the Council contributed to this flooding. It does not appear that the culvert, which contributed to the flooding last February, was the cause of yesterday evening’s flooding in Pentre.
“The Council will continue to work with Welsh Water and Natural Resources Wales to reduce the risk of this happening again and to provide as much resilience and security for residents as is practicably possible.
“The Council will do all it can to support residents to recover, including providing financial assistance, as we did following Storm Dennis.
“It will also be important to provide the opportunity for residents to receive answers to the questions that they have rightfully and understandably raised, and to ensure that the community is engaged in moving forward.
“To that end, I have asked Officers to urgently bring forward a report that looks into the causes of flooding and identifies what action needs to be taken.”