Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service attend 98 flooding-related incidents
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended 98 flooding-related incidents in 24 hours.
From 8am on Wednesday to 8am on Thursday, Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) received 233 calls through its joint fire control system.
Of the 233 calls, 140 were flood-related calls – 71 calls of external flooding, 57 calls of internal flooding and 12 calls where the flooding posed a risk to life.
Welshpool was one of the busiest stations during this period, as the teams there dealt with seven incidents.
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During the 24 hours, incidents included deploying the swift water rescue teams to rescue a total of 13 people from vehicles in flood water, winching vehicles from water and pumping water from properties. This was in addition to responding to road traffic collisions and property fires in our service area.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Roger Thomas, Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Over the past 24 hours our crews have been extremely busy, having attended 98 flood-related incidents in harsh and treacherous conditions. This is in addition to attending house fires, road traffic collisions and mitigating the damage to people’s properties from the effects of Storm Christoph. This was all done whilst operating within the current Covid-19 restrictions.
"Whilst our incident activity has returned to normal, for now, there are weather warnings still in place and colder conditions are expected to continue through the next few days. I would urge all drivers to carefully consider if their journey is an essential one to take.
"If you must drive, please, do not drive through flood water as it only takes one foot, or 30cm, of moving water to float your car and as little as an eggcup-full of water, entering your engine, is enough to cause significant mechanical damage.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank our operational crews and staff at the joint fire control for their outstanding and tireless work in what has been a very busy and challenging 24 hours period.”
