STORM BERT battered large parts of England and Wales this week, with high winds and flooding causing travel disruption and lack of life. In south Wales, a church service was cancelled, in order that members of the congregation could help those coping with flood damage.
At least five individuals are reported to have died due to the results of the storm. A body was found on Sunday within the seek for a person, Brian Penny, who went missing while walking his dog near to the flooded River Conwy in North Wales. Four people were killed of their cars in incidents related to the intense weather conditions.
The Vicar for Community Engagement and Outreach in Pontypridd Ministry Area, the Revd Rachel Campbell, said that the Sunday morning service at St Catherine’s, Pontypridd, was cancelled, and members of the congregation as an alternative went to assist residents and business-owners who were attempting to mitigate the results of flooding.
Some people had been unable to get to the service owing to travel disruption attributable to flooding, Ms Campbell said. A spontaneous decision was taken to cancel the service and help those in need.
Members of the congregation of Citizen Church, in Pontypridd, also helped within the clean-up effort, and gave out hot drinks and food.
In an article on the Church in Wales’s website, the Archdeacon of Llandaff, the Ven. Rhod Green, was quoted saying saying that he had been “inspired by the exertions of our local churches out on the streets, wading through flood waters to comfort, care, and clean up”.
Asked what the response amongst local residents had been, Ms Campbell said: “People were really touched; it was all rather well received.”
Heavy rainfall caused flooding in south Wales; greater than 400 homes were damaged, the Welsh First Minister, Eluned Morgan, said. Another 107 properties had been affected in England, the Environment Secretary, Steve Reed, said.
Some of those affected by flooding in south Wales were critical of the quantity of warning that that they had received: some had came upon from their neighbours that there was a high risk of flooding.
The co-owner of Storyville Books in Pontypridd, Jenna Cowley, told The Guardian that she had only came upon that there was a high risk of harm to the shop when she was notified by a neighbouring business; floodwaters had caused about £15,000 of harm. The shop was considered one of the companies helped by volunteers from St Catherine’s.
