Christmas trees ‘float’ as heavy flooding leaves houses underwater

Clean-up operations continue on Welsh homes today after severe flooding that occurred overnight.

Families are struggling to spend Christmas Day far from their homes after torrential rains overwhelmed drains and roads Wednesday afternoon.

South Wales areas such as Newport, Caldicot and the Vale of Glamorgan have been severely affected after houses submerged and vehicles were trapped in dirty flood water.

But despite the heartbreak, teams of volunteers have been working 24 hours a day to help those in trouble before more bad weather hits Boxing Day. You can follow our live updates on the cleanup effort here.

In the town of Sully, Stewart and Shirley Murdoch were still cleaning their home Thursday afternoon with the help of a team of volunteers.

The couple had planned to spend Christmas Day in their dining room, but in a tragic turn of events, flooding ruined their carpet and left wallpaper hanging on the wall.

They were watching television last night when suddenly the floodwaters ran through their garden and into their kitchen and dining room.

Stewart, 67, said: “I got to our back alley and saw some water. I opened the back door and it just flooded.

“Then we realized that he was also entering our kitchen, so for an hour my wife and I tried to wrestle with brooms and realized that he was not going anywhere. We looked into our dining room and saw the water coming up the drain. wall. point there was nothing we could do.

“It was so fast.”

Speaking about the cleaning operation, Stewart added: “The carpets are totally destroyed. We are waiting for the loss adjuster to call me, he said he will not be here for a few days anyway due to Christmas, obviously so we will have to wait and see. what does it say.

“It’s just a clear job now. A local guy who is a former military man, he managed to get 50 volunteers. They have come, they lifted the carpet and cleaned me, their help has been fantastic. There is no way I could have done it myself.”

At Highbridge Close in Sully, one particular row of houses suffered the brunt of the flooding. On Christmas afternoon, even teams of volunteers went door-to-door offering to lend a hand, while wet towels and ruined rugs were piled up in the gardens alongside soggy Santa hats.

Resident John Ray, 54, said there were nine strangers in his home at one point Wednesday night, all helping to clean up the water that ran into his home.

Fortunately, he managed to avoid the worst of the damage, adding that people had been knocking on his door all morning to check that they were okay.

A few minutes away, Hedd James was home Wednesday night when the water began to pour down Conybeare Road.

About a foot of flood water entered her home, leaving her Christmas tree “floating” as it covered her living room, kitchen and garden.

For Hedd, as well as Stewart and Shirley, this is the first time their home has been flooded in the 20 years they have lived there, and many residents are now concerned that ongoing construction work in the area is contributing to the problem.

Hedd’s daughter Liane James said: “She feels like it’s a dream.

“I put the Christmas tree back together, it was floating in the water. The garden was all covered.

“This has never happened before, there has been water but nothing like this. Last night the town was an island, you couldn’t even enter us. Everything was closed.”

Liane said that she and her family had been overwhelmed by the community’s response in their hour of need. After Hedd’s son posted a photo of the flooding at the home, around 20 neighbors came to help, creating a chain of people emptying buckets outside the home.

Later, they helped pull out the carpets and run the dehumidifiers to help dry her house.

At one point, a volunteer nearly fell into a manhole that had been dug to try to get the water out of the submerged garden.

She said: “We had about 50 people at one point. A neighbor saw what was happening, grabbed his truck and went to the depot in Barry to pick up a load of sandbags. If he hadn’t, it would have been terrible.

“They had pumps here, they were pumping the water.”

Neighbor Sarah Francis-Oaten said: “I took a truck and my daughter and we got as many bags of sand as they allowed us.

“When we got back, it was just buckets, brushes trying to sweep the water out of the woman’s path on the corner and flush the water out of Hedd’s house. CAVRA (Civil Aid Voluntary Rescue Association) showed up after a couple of hours I think we were here four or five hours.

“It was a great community spirit, everyone came to help. It is devastating what happened to their homes, especially after this terrible year.”

Neighbor Gabriel Szoby said: “It was like a lake around the house. There were about 20 men on the street trying to divert the water.”

On Sully Moors Road, Monty Smith Ltd’s car service center remained underwater on Christmas Eve.

Owner Andrew Smith said: “Last night we didn’t think it would flood.

“Around 8:00 PM It started to arrive. We had the firefighters here around 11 PM, they were pumping 1000 liters per minute and it was coming faster than they could pump. They gave up and where we are there is now two feet of water through the building.

“There are cars that have gotten wet. We have taken out all of our clients’ cars and lifted them off the ground and put them on the ramps of the workshop. It is the second floor we have had this year.”

To assist with the cleanup operation, a GoFundMe page was established for residents affected by the floods in Sully.

The page, created by resident Hannah Bevan Mohaffel, reads: “Flash flooding has caused severe flooding in Sully, the worst we have seen. One day before Christmas Eve. Some houses are flooded, one with a refrigerator floating in it. water … We want to do everything possible to help those affected. “

You can donate here to raise flood victims.

So far over £ 4,500 has been raised.