Flood-hit residents facing weeks away from home

Nigel Davies has lived in his family home off the Cwmbwrla roundabout for 30 years

A man who was forced out of his home after flooding over the weekend has said he is "touched" by the support he has received despite facing weeks in temporary accommodation.

Nigel Davies and his elderly father were rescued from their home in Cwmbwrla, Swansea, over the weekend after a roundabout and surrounding streets were completely submerged.

Mr Davies and his father are now staying in temporary accommodation, with many buildings without power and businesses unable to trade.

Residents are fearful of further flooding with a yellow weather warning for rain in place from 06:00 BST to 23:00 on Wednesday.

Mr Davies said the bottom floor of the house, where has lived for 30 years, was "completely washed away" on Sunday.

"I was watching my fridge floating past me. My tropical fish are dead. I lost all of the electricity for the tanks," he said.

"You keep telling yourself that these are things that can be replaced, but some of them cannot.

"There is some things that are memories, and they are priceless."

Mr Davies and his 80-year-old's father temporary accommodation is only available until the end of the week and he said it was difficult to find a suitable place to stay because of his dad's "complex accessibility issues".

He said it could be weeks or possibly months before they can return home, but he was worried whether it would ever be safe.

"It's tough for him. He is not been well for the last few weeks and months. He has lost all mobility now so he cannot walk unaided," Mr Davies said.

"Then there is the emotional impact. He has lived here for 50 years, married to my mother for 40 of them.

"He has got so many memories wrapped up in the place, and the whole bottom floor the house is destroyed."

Since the flood a fundraising page has been set up for Mr Davies and his father, although he said the money would not be needed as insurance would cover the damage.

"But the fact that somebody's gone and done that, and people have looked at the situation and felt that they could put their hands in the pocket, is touching, and it makes a huge psychological difference," he said.

Many businesses have been devastated by floodwater and are unable to trade because of lack of power

Along Mansel Terrace in Cwmbwrla, many homes and businesses have been devastated by floodwater and are unable to trade because of lack of power.

According to Malcolm Perrin, owner of QV Vehicle Hire, some businesses may never recover from the financial loss.

"Next door my son's garage, it's devastated. The place is full of oil, he has lost his equipment, all his tools are soaking, saturated," he said.

"They are small businesses, they rely on everyday business coming in and money coming in every day.

"They have still got to pay their wages, they have still got to pay their bills but they have got nothing coming in. Nobody has come around to give them any assistance."

He said for now there was nothing they could do but start tidying up.

"We have got no electrics so we can't get out get the pressure wash to start cleaning. We cannot take telephone calls because there's no electric we haven't got WiFi."

Rob Stewart, leader of Swansea council, said it was believed the flooding at Cwmbwrla was linked to a previously collapsed culvert on private land which is not owned or maintained by the council.

He said: "A number of pumps have been deployed on site to help remove the water from this location and we are working to ensure this busy route is reopened as soon as possible.

"Once the water levels have been reduced, there will be a need to keep the route closed for a short period to carry out safety inspections and a clean-up of the road surface."

Welsh Water said it had been working "round the clock" to restore services and clean up the area.

"The flooding, we believe, was caused by the collapsed culvert that resulted in a sinkhole at Cwmfelin Social Club. The culvert is not owned or maintained by Welsh Water," it said in a statement.