'No lessons learned' Anger in south Wales as history repeats itself

After the anguish came the anger. As flood waters subsided across the south Wales valleys and devastated residents and business owners surveyed the damage done by Storm Bert, questions were being asked about whether warnings were adequate.

- Jamie Grierson

Many of the overwhelmed towns and villages experienced similar devastation in 2020 when Storm Dennis swept through - yet those interviewed by the Guardian said little if anything had been done to future-proof against floods and storms in the intervening years.

Pontypridd, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, was one of the worst affected towns, where the Taff overflowed and flooded dozens of properties.

Jenna Cowley, 38, is a co-owner of Storyville Books on Mill Street, where the flood waters rose through the drains and overwhelmed the district of independent shops and businesses.

Cowley was stacking surviving books into plastic storage boxes, salvaging what she could; the floors and lower shelves of the bookcases were grimy with brown water stains and a dehumidifier buzzed in the doorway.

She and her partner and co-owner, Jeff Baxter, were only notified of the rising waters by Zucco, a neighbouring cafe, whose owner posted images on Instagram.

"We had a yellow warning but we've had a lot of those and nothing much has happened," she said. "So we didn't think much of it."

After seeing Zucco's posts, Baxter came down to the store to discover the waters had tripped the electrics controlling the shutters.

With help from neighbouring business owners, they opened the shutters to discover the damage inside.

Cowley said about £15,000 worth of damage was done - "in the lead-up to Christmas".