Storm ‘held out’ by flood scheme

Praise for drain work as town is ‘spared’

LLANELLI avoided the worst as Storm Callum brought death and destruction to many areas of Carmarthenshire at the weekend.

And community leaders have been quick to praise the town’s multi-million pound RainScape scheme, delivered by Welsh Water, for protecting the town from the flooding that such severe rainfall would have previously inflicted on Llanelli.

One local councillor said: “I think it proves the RainScape scheme is doing its job to reduce surface water through the system and off roads, parks and recreational areas.”

WITH much of west and north Carmarthenshire still clearing up in the aftermath of Storm Callum and the worse floods in three decades, Llanelli has emerged unscathed.

It is business as usual across the town with very little standing water on playing fields or streets despite being battered by Storm Callum at the weekend.

It is a different picture in Carmarthen and other rural towns to the north of the county.

So what happened? Llanelli has no river running through it like Carmarthen, but heavy rain during the weekend onslaught – which would have in the past left standing water and caused problems for businesses and traffic – were quickly dealt with in part due to the RainScape scheme delivered by Welsh Water.

The initiative, launched by Welsh Water six years ago, is a series of works to reduce the risks of sewer flooding by preventing a surplus of surface water making its way into the network.

It all works by separating rain water from the existing system, reducing the rate at which it enters the network and redistributing it to local rivers and watercourses, and in some cases, removing it completely, therefore protecting the local environment.

Town leaders say the past weekend has been the ultimate test for the Llanelli system with heavy rain pounding the county.

Under the works, £114 million is being invested across Llanelli and Gowerton, with £95 million of that in Llanelli up to 2020.

County councillor Andre McPherson, who represents the Tyshia ward which has had the most extensive work as part of the RainScape scheme so far, said the area and town as a whole had been unscathed by the storm and any flooding.

He said: “There was some surface water but no more than usual despite the storm that hit.

“I put that down to the hard work of the council clearing drains and the RainScape scheme.

“In Tyisha there is definitely less surface water, you woudn’t say a storm hit at the weekend.

“I think it proves the RainScape scheme is doing its job to reduce surface water through the system and off the roads, parks and recreational areas.

“Areas which might have been prone to increased surface water during such a storm, haven’t seen it this time.”

“This weekend and the storm has been a real test for RainScape.”

Teresa O’Neill, Welsh Water’s RainScape project manager at Welsh Water said: “Over the weekend our innovative RainScape works in Llanelli were put to the test with Storm Callum.

“While it’s too early to say how well our RainScape solutions operated during the heavy rain, what we can confirm is that we haven’t had any reports of flooding from our network in the area which would appear to suggest that our works are having a positive impact on the way the sewers perform.

“Our RainScape project is now preventing the same amount of rainwater that could fill 600 Olympic-sized swimming pools from entering Llanelli’s sewer network each year.

“We expect to continue to see this figure to increase until the works are completed by the end of 2020.”