in the center of ponta prete this
afternoon one of many places in these
valleys still reeling from the impact of
the weekend floods he asks if the
sandbags made any difference she shakes
her head so many businesses here were
flooded and not all insured like the
fashion boutique run by Emma Jamal and
her husband where hundreds of thousands
of pounds worth of stock was ruined by
four feet of plastic as well as those
caught up in the flooding he met
emergency services and council staff
involved in the response not far from
the lado
he'd only reopened a few years ago now
badly damaged and shut for months to
come several miles away intra forest
more businesses pile up their debris
we're shown into a repair garage and are
told a hundred and fifty cars you have
been written off then a manufacturing
plant with a million pounds worth of
machinery damage and an NHS Depot we're
outside they've brought some of the 600
wheelchairs damaged in the flood we've
had two and a half foot of water
throughout the entire building so we've
had to look at all our stock on the
ground floor take it out look at what we
can read contam decontaminate what we
can refurbish a lot of the building work
needs to be ripped out it's been a huge
devastation to us and neighboring
facilities as well in some streets which
were flooded still lie abandoned cars
laden with mud this road is yet to get
its gas supply back and while some begin
the painstaking process of repair others
like Stephen Davis are still salvaging
what they can how are you going to find
new accommodation well it's gonna be
hard in this area because I think a lot
of people in the same boat let me he
started looking for something we haven't
yet know there's some residents like
Diane Sanford who's 91 year old mother
had a home flooded can do little until
the insurance companies have assessed
the damage
you can't take the furniture out at the
moment no because you have to wait for
The Hitcher wait for the Assessor to
come on Tuesday he said he's coming down
from Gatwick and because he is sought
inundated he can't get to me until next
Tuesday and he said he'd be down here a
couple of weeks just seeing two people
in assessing different people I mean he
saw widespread as is the infrastructure
damage overnight another bridge in Ponte
breath was closed due to structural
concerns some are still strewn with the
remnants of storm Dennis these just some
of the multi-million pound repairs the
Welsh government wants the Treasury to
help fund there is so much damage that
people are still having to confront now
several days after the river tack burst
its banks
look at these allotments the tin plate
works allotments intra forests leveled
as if by tsunami is how one here
describes it and all now quietly
absorbed by old French sheltering in one
of the few Bank side huts left standing
it's all gone everything how you feeling
[Music]
well our reporter Jane Dodge is in Kirby
Wharf in North Yorkshire now Jane put us
in the picture about what's going on
there well the people here in this small
Yorkshire village of Kirby Wolff are
watching and waiting tonight some of
them from their kitchen windows
overlooking flood water here they know
all too well about the risk of flooding
these houses have been flooded four or
five times over the years the worst back
in 2015 now though they've taken things
into their own hands and bought this
it's a 150 meter long aqueduct sorry
aqua dam full of water and is the very
same water flood water that's lapping up
here besides me on the path people are
uncertain the council the property's
people want to move on and there's
always one eye on the weather living
here and it's just makes life
uncomfortable well people be able to
relax this weekend certainly not now
for those nervously watching like
Richard water levels over the weekend
there are though some words of
reassurance from the Environment Agency
we're keeping a close eye on the river
level so a month river river levels
across yorkshire we expect the river to
rise as the rain starts to fall so we're
making sure all our defenses are working
and functioning all our pumps are
working all our trash screens are
cleared and we are running 24/7 to make
sure we can warn inform people if levels
start to rise to a tricky situation
and a reminder of those areas that face
the risk of further flooding this
weekend the Pennines and parts of the
Midlands and the north of England Jane
thanks very much very much well our
weather presenter Liam Dustin is with me
now
Liam people are bracing themselves how
bad is it going to get with the rain
this weekend
well obviously any rain is not welcome
at all but it's important to make the
point that the rain that we're going to
see this weekend isn't going to be
anywhere near the scale that we saw last
weekend with storm Dennis or the weekend
before that with storm Kiera so in those
storms we had six inches of rain in the
weather warning affected areas of
northern England and Wales this weekend
we could see one to two inches maybe
three inches so much less in terms of
the amount of rain that's falling and
what about the implications for flooding
well there are two aspects for the
potential for flooding this weekend
obviously the ground is still saturated
more rain falling on top of that will
mean that there's the risk of further
surface water flooding disruption to
travel maybe some homes and businesses
flooded too and then there's the river
level side of things obviously the
rivers are still high and for the bigger
rivers it takes a number of days for the
water to flow down from the hills into
those parts of the catchment so we still
need to watch the risk of river flooding
into next week as well okay you'll be
back at the end of the program thanks so
much Liam
Kathy thanks Fatima earlier I spoke to
the washer actor and activist Michael
Sheen via the internet from New York
he's spearheading a crowdfunding
campaign for victims of the flooding and
began by asking him how much he's hoping
to raise well there's no limit really we
just want to keep going you know people
who have been affected by by the
flooding all across Wales it's gonna go
on for a very long
you know after the news and the column
inches stop talking about what's going
on people will still be affected by it
so we want to try to just keep going and
you've given your own money as well what
what's behind your interest in this
campaign your decision to start this
campaign well I was watching you know
images like everyone else on the news
and an online of what was going on
seeing people being evacuated out of
their homes and small businesses I'm
gonna throw away their stock you know
the devastation that was going on there
and seeing you know the risks of tips
with landslides happening again you know
images that we haven't seen for a long
time and the for us in Wales hold you
know huge emotional power and it just
really moved me as it did so many people
so I went to look at how I could help
how I could contribute some money to
help and I saw that there were lots of
fundraising sites going on most of them
for individual areas or particular
places and and I couldn't find anything
that was sort of more overarching for
the whole of Wales so I remembered that
I'm the president of the Wales Council
for voluntary action who of course have
a network of community groups local
community groups all over Wales and so
we talked about setting something up
where Wales councils of voluntary action
could hold the money centrally and then
distribute it to the local groups it's
always the same when when when something
terrible and devastating like this
happens you see the best and the worst
you know the worst as in what damage can
be done and and the vulnerabilities that
we have as a society and certain
communities have but we also see the
best in a way the communities pulled
together and I've been hearing today
about in in an area in a body lice where
you know people in this who live there
have the canal on one side the river on
the other so that the devastation has
been awful and my own I've had a family
member who lives in that area ought to
be evacuated by bulk last Sunday morning
and just left in her pajamas literally
what she was wearing and a dog under
each arm and had to leave all the
possessions behind and doesn't know when
she'll get back doesn't know how much
might be rescue because of health risks
to do with sewage there is there is you
know leaked out so and you see people
rallying around and and in that area
another day lice I know that local
businesses have helped out they brought
food and clothes
and water and even the local chip shop
is is giving food away to people give me
that when the government took power just
before Christmas they made much of the
fact that they call themselves the
government of the people listening to
ordinary people and what do you make of
the fact that Boris Johnson has sort of
gone to ground in Kent hasn't been seen
in Wales appears to have no plans to
visit or indeed caller Cobra Emergency
Committee meeting well it's it's it is
very disconcerting you know the it seems
like this is the first big test of a lot
of what was spoken about before the
election in terms of how much the Union
mattered how much the devolved Nations
mattered and how much how important it
was to this government to to make sure
that everyone felt that they were
included and would be cared about and
committed to and here here we have the
first big test of that and as far as I
know the only response so far from
Westminster has been that flooding is a
devolved matter and which you know does
sound scarily like you're on your own
so I'm sorry what do you say to the
prime minister if he was here in front
of you now I'd say that you know Wales
is for the time being part of the United
Kingdom the people here the community
here are suffering they put a lot of
trust in new you know a lot more
trusting you that you've had then you've
had in the past as a Conservative Party
recently in the last election and that
trust needs to be rewarded I would say
by at the very least saying that you you
care about what's going on and that
you're going to do everything you can
you know we're not even getting those
words let alone the actions at the
moment it's it's way beyond what the
Welsh government can cope with at the
moment it's it's it on a huge scale
what's going on here so we really do
need a combined effort micro team thank
you so much for joining us pleasure
thank you we're joining me now from
Monmouth where there has been serious
flooding is the Welsh Office Minister
David Davies it's also his constituency
there mr Davies let's just start with
what Michael Sheen ended up there saying
that people have put a lot of trust in
your government and actually they're not
getting kind words let alone action at
the moment well first of all can I say
to both Michael Sheen and
you that the this constituency has been
very badly affected by flooding and the
chief executive was absolutely clear he
didn't want prime ministers he didn't
want members of parliament he didn't
want actors and celebrities turning up
in the middle of a rescue operation
trying to get selfies and publicity he
actually asked us to stay away so that's
the first thing until we moved into let
me just say the Prime Minister could
have called a Cobra Emergency Committee
which he did are the last set of floods
in the middle of an election campaign
why is he not even done that well first
of all you asked me why people weren't
visiting the chief executive of this
constituency which is one of the first
the worst affected constituencies in
Wales asked people to stay away so that
answers your first question the second
point is this it is a devolved issue and
both Simon Hart the Secretary of State
from for Wales and myself are very
sensitive to the accusations from people
funny enough from some celebrities in
fact that we're trying to run ride
roughshod over the devolution settling
we are not responsible for the health
service or for education or for flood
defences in Wales and we understand that
we have said this very clearly to the
First Minister no no may I answer your
question because frankly you put it in
an outrageous fashion we are not
responsible for flood defense but we are
of course willing to support the Welsh
government in any way they want and if
they come to us and say this is too big
for us we can't deal with it by
ourselves then obviously Simon and
myself will be there to support them
well we are not responsible and we
cannot tell them how to okay flood
defences no I accept that but the Welsh
government has come to you and ask
understand it and how much will they get
and when well first of all the First
Minister for Wales has said that he will
release ten million pounds in funding
that isn't going to go very far at all
now if the First Minister is looking for
us to support him in getting more money
out of western civ government then of
course we will be looking to do that but
he needs to come to us and tell us first
of all how much he's going to need and
what it's going to be spent on because
we have
problem in the class where money has
been passed on by the UK government to
the Welsh government spent on so there's
an issue about making absolutely certain
that any extra money going into else is
spent on flood defense for those sorts
of assurances ok the First Minister of
Wales has asked the UK government for
extra financial assistance so I'm asking
you how much assistance will they get
and when if the First Minister wants to
make a case for extra financial
assistance and to explain exactly what
it's going to be spent on them both
Simon and I he hasn't he hasn't said
exactly how it's going to be spent
he said he wants tens of millions of
pounds robbed from the treasury to
repair infrastructure because of the
scale of the damage we'll need to look
at that we'll need to look at the
figures and look at exactly how it's
going to be spent and expect certain
guarantees around that but both Simon
and myself have said that we're very
very willing and we want to work with
them signs met with the First Minister
on a number of occasions but don't
forget you know say this again because
you didn't appear to realise it when you
asked the question we are not
responsible for flood defences in Wales
and if the Prime Minister's started
telling the Welsh government how to run
the Health Service or how to run
education or how to run flood defences
then I think Channel 4 News would be the
first to start asking questions about
yeah what the constitutional position is
yes run thing and the Welsh government
has announced the 10 million pounds of
funding the world cumin has made that
announcement they've also which is going
which you seem to be unaware of at this
point no they haven't specifically asked
me for funding but they have met with
Simon Hart and they are talking to him
about about extra funding but he can't
just go back to the government say give
me a load of extra money but I don't
know how much or how it's going to be
spent yet we'll be looking for a
slightly more concrete plan than that
because that's how things work in
government but isn't there a real sense
of urgency here I mean I asked you
initially a question that actually you
didn't answer that you know Michael
Sheen's point was that the people there
were not getting words let alone action
and why not
act by calling the Cobra Emergency
Committee which was done before
Christmas
well well first of all because the
emergency services had done an
absolutely fantastic job I mean we I'm
standing here now this area of course
was under water 20 years ago when I
first got elected the area behind the
bridge was completely on the up to the
other side of that bridge was flooded I
was in two feet of water on a walk when
I walked around now actually there have
been around about 120 properties flooded
in mom sure it could have been
completely disastrous it's bad very very
bad indeed we could have seen but we
could have we could have seen even more
widespread flooding than there had been
we had the Chief Constable sorry you
don't think it's a disaster I'm sorry
what of course is a disaster but it's
not as big a disaster as it could have
been because the emergency services
managed to evacuate people on time and
the the flood defences that were put in
place last time in many areas actually
held so people not under estimating the
scale of this disaster at all don't you
think it's very strange though that the
man who professes to run the people's
government has not been spotted since
this disaster hit your constituency no I
think I think it would have been I think
that if Boris Johnson had popped up with
a TV through and a load of people taking
selfies in the middle of a rescue
operation you would have quite rightly
had me onto your programme to say what
on earth does he think he's doing why is
he getting in the way especially when
the chief executive of this very council
in this one of the most worst affected
areas specifically asked politicians to
stay away and keep out of it until the
rescue operation had taken place
well obviously all of us are devastated
for those people who've lost their
houses it goes absolutely without saying
but what what what I think would be
wrong would be to start trying to tell
or trying to pretend first of all
politicians or actors pretending that we
rescue workers is the wrong thing to do
secondly and I'm very cutely aware this
is a Welsh office minister and as a
matter of fact as a former member of the
Welsh Assembly myself I'm very well
aware of what the Welsh Assembly is
responsible for and what the UK
government is responsible for and I'm
acutely aware of the sensitivity of UK
government ministers like myself all for
them at matter Boris Johnson going in
there
and trying to pretend we're responsible
for things that are actually the
responsibility at the Welsh government
it's alien first of all it's the wrong
thing to do and secondly it causes a
damage to our relationships with all due
respect shall inform you I wouldn't
expect Michael Sheen to know about the
constitutional niceties but would expect
you to