many of the businesses flooded here 11
days ago are still closed the amount of
recovery work there is to do here is
vast and to be fair to the council they
have engineers finance and housing
officers out there trying to assist but
as its leader Andrew Morgan put it to me
yesterday the multi-million pound repair
operation is the easy part
rebuilding lives poses the biggest
challenge and as we've witnessed day in
day out here I have to say it is very
hard to overstate the amount of harm
psychologically this is causing and
importantly in already disadvantaged
communities they are thought to number
more than a thousand in Rhonda Cullen
tavolo their homes flooded lives in
upheaval young old fatigued by rain and
in need centers like this now
facilitating the council's initial 500
pounds per home emergency payments and
more the crisis is far from over the
traces have just begun some people going
on heating in their houses they still
live in upstairs this is just the
beginning
what have you lost ledger beds so fast
washing machine Norma Jo is here with
her daughter Lisa is one of the few left
in her Street in pen TRO the flooding so
bad it's now mostly Carlos and eerily
quiet but for the sound of sweeping and
dumping
so you're now living upstairs yeah on
it's a pain bruh it's a real pain Norma
who has arthritis clambers breathlessly
up the stairs they had no insurance for
the damage below so you've got your bed
and then I got a little room over there
then which is got her husband David is
registered blind they've rejected offers
to relocate fearful of losing this home
that's not going to dry but it's not
draining possible but the unrelenting
pressure of getting it fixed with the
help of their children is proving too
much that's gotta go
in Burlington oh no we're making a noise
I would if Satan is working we are the
poet people doubt and because my share
was not working and he said the Pirates
will Cape and now that boy has started
to go funny now he's being funny you
know I've cleaned the last three days
I've been in the bathroom cleaning about
what's wrong I'm too old to go on start
all over again and you know I just done
a 12-2 old with some of the bridges here
for the ravages of the last storm a
staggering line
we're told may have to be rebuilt and as
the council leader shows me the leidos
still being drained of mud some of the
pipe workers ruptured through the damage
only now is a basic picture of the wider
damage emerging what's also beginning to
emerge among so many of the communities
affected here is an early indication of
just how many people have no insurance
cover to fall back on in one street
nearly half are uninsured one community
worker told us oh you got the you got
the postcode um you know how many people
do either
I took more than
YAG we're at another Center buzzing with
volunteers in ponta prete rammed with
donations and all witnessing the
hardships firsthand the fact that they
haven't got insurance their own benefits
that are all low incomes even families
it'll work and on low incomes where
they've got no insurance they couldn't
afford to take out insurance on their
property because this struggling day to
day is it is further south in that guru
the storm is costing businesses dearly
like this cake decorating and model
making business one of several here
uninsured for flood damage at this point
we estimate we think we've lost in the
region of three to four hundred thousand
pounds we have no insurance so we're on
our own it's it's 15 years worth of
investment gone in in one day among the
30 jobs he's trying to save this 23 year
olds whose home was flooded too and
whose patience with the authorities like
Steve's is rapidly running out my
biggest worry is that Steve is going to
move the place of the business because
he's not gonna be able to have insurance
here and then I'm gonna be stuck because
obviously I don't have a car anymore cuz
that's gone with the floods and I'm
gonna be stuck without a job trying to
fix up my house with no money and just
waiting for the flood to happen again to
wipe out all of my hard work again
there's a little boy you know in our
streets as he was being taken onto the
boat he was the athlete his parents
behind and he was crying and screaming
but mommy are you gonna die that little
boy is gonna grow up with our man we
probably been his first memory sorry
like my sister already Iseman xiety
disorder
there's no counselors come in there's no
one saying always first at the support
group nothing outside the First Minister
of Wales has told us counselling
services are available through a
helpline others want to know what
happens when that initial emergency
funding runs out well what they will get
now will be the longer-term health that
we will mobilize with our colleagues in
the field working with the UK government
as well but ham
much money might that be that's what
families would like to know yeah well I
think families understand that it's just
not possible because they themselves
will not know how much money they will
need and it will vary from household to
household the first minister they need
some assurances now what they need I
think what they will understand they
need is they need immediate help which
is being mobilized for them and they
need assurances but public services in
Wales including the Welsh government
will be there with them over the long
haul we are able to give them that
assurance and for so many here as
elsewhere traumatized and vulnerable it
will indeed be a long haul bewildered by
the magnitude of the challenges ahead
and all the time
terrified of it happening again