Family left with scars after 'horrendous' landslide

Emyr Owens and his family were doing jobs around the house when his daughter heard an unfamiliar sound.

Within minutes there was six foot (1.8m) of water outside their family home in Wrexham, 15 trees had fallen and his son's car had been swept down the lane.

Like hundreds of others across the country, Mr Owens and his son's homes were badly damaged by Storm Bert in November 2024.

Three months on he said his family were lucky to be alive but were still living with the scars of such a "horrendous" event.

"It could have been an absolute disaster," said Mr Owens, from Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, Wrexham.

On the morning Storm Bert battered the country, Mr Owens and his adult children, as well as his six grandchildren, were moving furniture.

The storm triggered a landslide on Mr Owens' doorstep, leaving destruction in its wake.

"It was horrendous. At its worse it was six foot deep and it smashed all the doors where the cattle were," he said.

A total of 15 trees fell, with one tree slicing through the stone walls of Mr Owens' son's house next door.

"We are lucky that it happened at 2pm and not 2am or it could have been a total disaster," Mr Owen said.

Three months on Mr Owens said Storm Bert had mentally impacted the family, particularly his six grandchildren.

"You are always thinking about it," he said. "People are always asking how are things... but it brings back things – it's been a very stressful time."

While Mr Owens has had support from his "fantastic neighbours and community," he said questions still remained about the preparation and reaction of authorities to the storm.

"We haven't had a phone call even – we have had nothing," he said.

"You'd think they would have come out and at least come and have a look at the situation.

"At the end of the day they are partially responsible for it."

Mr Owens said he was frustrated he cannot dredge the river, saying "common sense" needed to prevail.

"They say we will put a fence there and plant trees," he said. "They're going to extreme costs for no reason."

Lyndsey Rawlinson, head of operations for north east Wales at Natural Resources Wales, said: "All of our flood risk management activities must be prioritised and justified technically, environmentally, and economically.

"Dredging and de-shoaling can be more effective in some locations than in others.

"We make decisions on how best to manage increased flood risk on a site-specific basis, using specialist knowledge and evidence of how each river might respond to sediment removal."

Ms Rawlinson added Natural Resources Wales had "permissive powers" to carry out flood risk maintenance work on main rivers, rather than legal duties.