The recent heavy rainfall in Rhondda Cynon Taf has once again exposed the consequences of poor planning and years of inaction. While the council boasts that “all 100+ schemes upgraded since Storm Dennis had no flooding,” the real question is why these upgrades weren’t done years ago—before countless residents faced devastating floods, rising insurance premiums, and financial hardship.
For years, the council has allowed development on floodplains, worsening the risk of flooding. At the same time, it failed to invest adequately in improving watercourses and culverts, which could have prevented much of the damage seen in recent years. Now, as extreme weather events become more frequent, residents are left paying the price for these past decisions.
The council claims it is “pressing for flood modelling” on key rivers, yet its ongoing approval of floodplain developments contradicts any real commitment to tackling the issue. It’s time for action, not just words. The focus must be on real, long-term flood prevention strategies—starting with stopping development in high-risk areas and accelerating overdue infrastructure improvements.
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Image by David Hardman
RCT Council Weekend weather update
The Council has provided an update on the weather event on Sunday, February 23, which saw very heavy rainfall recorded across the County Borough.
The heavy rain on Sunday saw parts of Rhondda Cynon Taf receive in excess of 105mm of rain in a relatively short period. However, the early warnings from the Met Office and the issuing of an Amber flood guidance statement, warning that river flooding could be an issue, allowed the Council to deploy resources early.
River flooding is not the responsibility of the Council – rather, it falls with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) as the flood risk management authority. However, the Council took the decision early on Sunday morning to deliver sandbags to hundreds of properties in the most at risk areas from river flooding.
While it’s clear from the NRW river gauge data that rivers rose quickly throughout Sunday, no river flooding to properties appears to have occurred – although a number of locations where we had teams deployed were very close to flooding.
In terms of Council-maintained assets, information so far shows that they performed well, with all 100+ schemes upgraded since Storm Dennis having no flooding. However, we are aware of several private culverts that suffered blockages or were overwhelmed by the amount of water, and these are being investigate further. The Council is also liaising with Welsh Water on reports of sewer flooding.
While there are a number of flood reports to still follow up and investigate to provide confirmation, so far no internal flooding from ordinary watercourses or surface water have been identified – but checks will continue over the next few days as staff liaise with residents.
What is clear is is that the millions of pounds of investment made by the Council and Welsh Government is making a difference – but there are many more locations that need to be upgraded across the county to be able to deal with the ever-increasing amounts of rainfall we are receiving. This is especially the case over the hilltops, which is then affecting communities downhill. The Council is clear that significant investment needs to continue in infrastructure upgrades and building community resilience. In the coming year, more than £6 million will be invested in over 24 locations to help further tackle known areas at risk of flooding.
We are continuing to provide grant funding to businesses to be as flood resilient as possible. We are pleased to see businesses like Clwb y Bont in Pontypridd, that benefitted from this grant funding to buy and install flood defence boards, were protected on the weekend and had no internal flooding.
In terms of the risks from river flooding, as stated above, the Council is not the flood risk management authority for this, and this means the Council is not responsible for building or maintaining river flood defences – or even carrying out dredging and river clearance work. This responsibility sits with NRW, and the Council is continuing to press for the flood modelling on the rivers Cynon, Rhondda and Taf to be completed, and for a clear plan on how to minimise flood risk in the catchment – be it from river walls, land and natural flood management, or individual property protection, etc.
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