Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Council staff have been hard at work over the Christmas and New Year period with weather-related incidents. Between Wednesday, December 30 and Monday, January 4 Street Scene crews received 165 call-outs for blocked gullies, flooding on the highway /properties and sandbag requests. Extreme heavy rainfall combined with already saturated ground conditions and swollen rivers resulted in a number of flooding incidents on the highway and to some homes. There were problems in Burry Port, Pontyates, Carway, Trimsaran, Kidwelly and the Llansteffan areas; with highways crews continuing to undertake clearance works today. Property Services teams have also been kept busy over Christmas and the New Year with a total of 240 emergency weather-related incidents at council housing properties and a further 280 attended by partner contractors for heating/alarm/lift problems. They also dealt with a further 22 non-housing emergency incidents. Executive Board Member for the Environment Cllr Hazel Evans sa...

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service is continuing to provide support to areas of the UK affected by flooding. On Friday, the Service deployed a Swift Water Rescue Team from Hay on Wye Fire Station and specialist pumping equipment to assist with the current flooding situation in the Thames Valley. Over the weekend, relief crews and additional equipment from Ammanford Fire Station were sent to Whitleywood Fire Station in Berkshire. For more on this story, click on the headline link to the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

Llanelli Leisure Centre swimming pool has been forced to close due to damage caused by adverse weather conditions. The damage is currently being assessed and until such time it will remain closed, with part of the car park also hit. All other areas of the centre remain open as normal. See Llanelli Star story on headline link.

Carmarthenshire Council highways crews will be on standby over the weekend as severe weather could cause disruption across the county. A combination of high tides, a positive surge, strong winds and large waves could lead to minor coastal flooding, particularly on Saturday. Properties and communities in coastal locations may be affected; disruption to travel is possible as well as further damage to previously compromised flood defence infrastructure. Sandbags have been delivered to areas affected by the New Year storms including Llangennech, Llansteffan, Laugharne, Llanddowror and Pendine. Some remedial works have been carried out along the Llanelli coast and the existing flood defence boards at Pendine have been reinforced and backed by a wall of sandbags. A temporary pump also continues to be on site at Llansteffan. Crews will be on standby in the event of road closures at the above locations, as well as the Quayside in Carmarthen. Householders are being reminded that sandbags are...

Investment in coastal defences along Carmarthenshire’s coastline in recent years prevented significant damage in the early January storms. That was the view expressed to Mid and West Wales Labour AM Joyce Watson when she discussed the effects of the recent storms at a meeting with senior council officers and coastal defence experts at Llanelli’s Discovery Centre. Mrs Watson had visited other storm damaged areas and was particularly concerned at the effect on rail passengers and Milford Haven oil freight deliveries with line closures caused by storm damage to main railway lines at Pwll and Ferryside. Carmarthenshire’s consultant coastal protection engineer, Howard Blackwell, explained that the threats to Llanelli’s coast - by rising tides and combinations of storm-driven Spring tides - has been the subject of a detailed survey that has been ongoing for 10 years. Mrs Watson said:“I am very grateful to Mr Blackwell and councillor Peter Cooper for taking the time to show me around some...

Residents have helped to clean up Pendine beach after the recent storms. Around 30 local people, including adults and children, gave up Saturday morning to clean up the debris washed up by the recent stormy weather. The volunteers filled around 30 bags and three wheelie bins in just a couple of hours. The clean up was organised by Morfa Bay Adventure, which is based in the village, with the council’s Street Scene section providing litter-pickers, bags and gloves. Gethin Jones from Morfa Bay Adventure said: “We carry out a lot of activities on the beach so it made sense that we co-ordinated it, but it was arranged at very short notice and a lot of people didn’t even know about it and more would have come along to help if they had known. “But it was great to see the community come together, Pendine was hit pretty badly. The storm washed up a lot of stuff, we had lots of fishing net stuck to railings, lots of containers and plastic, mainly bulky stuff so we couldn’t bag it all and had to ...

Carmarthenshire Trading Standards Officers are warning residents to be on their guard against distraction burglars and opportunist rogue traders especially in the aftermath of the recent stormy weather. Residents may have suffered damage to their property during the bad weather. The Trading Standards Service is now urging residents to be extra vigilant to doorstep callers and sellers who may not be offering bona fide work. People looking for trades people to carry out repairs are urged to be very careful who they employ and to be extra vigilant to doorstep sellers. Any bona -fide caller will be willing to call back, giving you the opportunity to check that they come from the relevant business. If you are agreeing to work in your home (over £35), then you should also be given written cancellation rights. Roger Edmunds, Trading Standards Services Manager said: “Residents of Carmarthenshire may need urgent work carried on their properties and it is very tempting to accept the first offer ...

Council staff have been praised for all their hard work during the stormy weather over the Christmas and New Year period. Street Scene crews and Property Services staff responded to hundreds of calls as torrential rain and high winds battered the county, even working on Christmas Day. Over the two week period from December 23 to January 3 highways crews responded to more than 500 calls to deal with storm water flooding, tidal flooding and wind damage, fallen trees and gritting action due to ice and hail. More than 2,500 sandbags were distributed to residents and businesses across the county to help keep floodwater out. In the Llanelli area, assistance was given to residents in Llangennech affected by flooding from the River Morlais with sandbags provided to those in need. The coastal road between Ferryside and Kidwelly near the Carmarthen Bay Holiday Village also had to be closed due to flooding. In Pendine, temporary measures were taken to provide a defence barrier due to the sev...

Carmarthen’s Model primary school has reopened today (Wednesday) following repairs to its storm-damaged roof. Children returned to their classrooms one day later than planned to allow the safe repair of the roof, which suffered damage due to the gale force winds over the weekend. Several slates had been blown off the dormer roof of the Ucheldir block, and part of the lead stripped away. Carmarthenshire County Council building inspectors attended the school on Monday, but because of continuing high winds, it was deemed too risky to erect scaffolding at the site. A break in the weather yesterday meant that the Property Services team could carry out the remedial work, and school has been able to open as usual today. Minor decorating repairs will now be carried out to patch up areas that were affected by water ingress. Cllr Colin Evans, Executive Board Member for Technical Services, said: “We’re pleased that our operational teams have been able to carry out a swift repair so that the schoo...

Teams of volunteers and council rangers have started a massive coastal clean up operation following the storms. The work could take several months, and there is a warning that more coastal batterings could be endured at the beginning of February and March bringing more misery. Last weekend bridges were torn up at one end of the Millennium Coastal Park at Bynea and hundreds of tonnes of sand shorn off dunes - leaving 25ft high sheer cliffs of sand - at Cefn Sidan, Pembrey. Sea defences of £2million installed in recent years along the Bynea to Burry Port stretch have done a magnificent job to prevent any major intrusion of the sea. The only weakness was found at Burry Port woodlands where the wind drove the high tides of last weekend in behind the walls of rock armour exposing the former Carmarthen Bay Power Station duff beds. A large section was eroded by the sea turning it black, but this is of no concern because the material is inert. Footpaths immediately behind this area are so...

Look what the wind did to the Trafalgar Beacon in Llanelli. The beacon was erected at Llanelli's Millennium Coastal Park as part of the Trafalgar bicentenary celebrations in 2005 to mark the 200th Anniversary of the sea battle and death of Lord Nelson. Park manager Rory Dickinson Mr Dickinson said the 14-inch square post was snapped like matchwood in the vicious 70mph winds causing the cauldron atop the post to crash to the ground. You can read more about the storm damage here - http://www.llanellistar.co.uk/Llanelli-businesses-sealed-like-pharaoh-s-tomb/story-20392364-detail/story.html