First Minister announces up to £10m to help flood victims

The First Minister says up to £10 million in emergency funding will be made available to those affected by the recent flooding in Wales.

Mark Drakeford said the fund is intended to "ease pressure on those without insurance, help rebuild homes and lives, and help get communities and businesses up and running as quickly as possible".

Speaking to ITV Wales, Mr Drakeford said: "We know there are people struggling with the immediate aftermath, we know there are families with no insurance at all. We want to make sure that as a government we say to them help will be available for you.

"We've found the money, what we need to do over the next couple of days is just get the mechanism to ensure the money gets from us to them as fast as that can happen."

The Welsh Government says the funding will support:

  • People whose houses have been damaged by the storms

  • Businesses and high streets impacted by the storms

  • Local authorities dealing with clean-up costs

  • Urgent infrastructure repairs - for example, fixing damaged roads and bridges

The First Minister will host an emergency summit on Wednesday with key frontline services, councils and business leaders to assess the extent of the damage across Wales and coordinate the response.

Rachel Cox inspecting flood damage in her kitchen in Nantgarw Credit: PA

Communities across Wales are counting the cost of Storm Dennis and Storm Ciara, which left hundreds of properties across Wales flooded.

South Wales Police declared a "major incident" on Sunday after the severe weather forced people out of their homes, caused disruption to roads and transport and saw some communities being hit by landslides.

Mark Drakeford visits flooding victims in Nantgarw Credit: PA

The River Wye in Monmouth rose to 7.15m on Tuesday morning - its highest level on record - causing flooding to affect parts of the town and many homes being evacuated.

Flood warnings remain in force for some parts of Wales, with a warning that further downpours of rain are expected from Wednesday morning until Thursday.

Locals work hard to clear up following the devastation of the floods Credit: PA

Flooding has also affected large areas of England, including Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resisted calls to chair a meeting of the UK Government’s emergency committee, Cobra, to tackle the flooding crisis, despite criticism from the Labour Party.

Luke Pollard, shadow UK environment secretary, said it was a “disgrace” that Boris Johnson had “refused” to visit affected communities.