Town finding its feet with help of 'heartwarming' support from far and wide after flooding devastation

A MONTH on from what has been described as one of the UK's worst ever floods, a small town is refusing to be defined by disaster.

- LOIS MCCARTHY Reporter

In Monmouth, Christmas lights are twinkling, shop doors are creaking back open and the familiar hum of daily life is returning, not because the damage has been forgotten but because the community has willed itself forward.

Last month Storm Claudia brought with it some of the most severe flooding Wales has seen in years. In a matter of hours swollen rivers and relentless rain tore through towns, villages and cities, leaving behind silt-stained walls, ruined stock and a deep sense of shock.

It should have been a time when this quaint little town popular with tourists was preparing for the festive season with excitement, yet they're in recovery mode again in scenes reminiscent of when Storm Dennis also devastated the place in 2020.

A town which comprises the Wye and Monnow rivers, folk here have become accustomed to rolling their sleeves up and getting on with it each time the two burst their banks.

Five inches of rain fell in just five hours on Friday, November 14 - an extraordinary deluge that overwhelmed defences and transformed familiar streets into fast-flowing channels.

But what followed was something altogether different. In the days after the flood the town pulled together in a show of resilience that was both quiet and extraordinary. People carried boxes, scrubbed floors and lifted waterlogged stock. They brewed tea for strangers, shared sandwiches on doorsteps, and returned the next morning to do it all again.

Teens spent days hauling debris from shops while more volunteers arrived from as far afield as Birmingham and Coleford armed with gloves, buckets and goodwill. Locals walked the length of the high street with flasks, tools, food or simply words of encouragement.

When we visited the town last week, Monmouth was settling into a new rhythm shaped by recovery, cooperation and an unspoken determination to keep going.