Neath woman 'devastated' after £100,000 culvert floods her shop for third time

The owner of an antiques shop has spoken of her horror after her business flooded for the third time due to a blocked culvert.

Gaynor Lloyd owns 'Vintage 7' in the Melyn area of Neath. She first spoke to ITV News Wales in November 2022, when her shop was flooded for the second time.

It happened again last month, in the middle of summer.

This was the backyard of her shop in November 2022.

"It was like a tsunami"

Reliving the sights and sounds she woke to on 14 August, she described how she saw water spilling over the top of the £100,000 culvert.

The majority of it ended up in her shop's backyard, where previously the water's force brought down two historic brick walls, costing her £32,000.

This time, thick brown water also made its way into the kitchen, lower level of the shop and the toilet.

The clean up continues at Ms Lloyd's shop.

  • What is a culvert?

Ms Lloyd and residents blame this culvert that was completed in May 2022.

It is an "underground structure that water can flow through," according to Natural Resources Wales.

Visible parts of culverts is where they can become blocked quickly by debris, preventing water passing through freely.

The responsibility to clear and maintain the majority of culverts across Wales lies with local authorities.

Gaynor pointed out the amount of water that entered her business by the flood lines left on a fire door.

Ms Lloyd told ITV News Wales that she knows it will happen again and that is affecting her mental health.

She explained: "The mental strain, this cloud hangs over this area about when it's next going to flood is horrendous, it's horrendous."

"I'm dreading the winter when there's going to be more water and more likelihood of flooding anyway.

"You can't believe it on a sunny blue day like but I didn't think it was going to flood in August, I didn't think it was going to flood in November."

It has not felt like summer in the area with sandbags becoming a common sight.

Ms Lloyd has not been able to fully open 'Vintage 7' since March 2020 as the Coronavirus pandemic shut her down.

Since, flooding has become her pandemic, and now she trades from a small table placed just beyond the front door.

The rest of her shop resembles a storage unit with stacks of her stock.

She sells items like French paint at the front of her shop while the rest of it acts as a storage unit.

She wants something to be done about the culvert, saying: "Initially, I thought there was inadequate cleansing of the culvert.

"I don't think that's the case now because I've done quite a few freedom of informations and that showed the Melyn culvert is regularly cleansed.

"But you've got a precast pipe that is just over three feet in diameter, that's smaller than a little toddler and you're expecting volumes of water to be able to get through this small culvert.

Ms Lloyd wants the council to look again at its design and come up with an alternative "that's going to cope with the amount of water, because this is going to happen again, I'm sure it's going to happen against within the next six months.

"If you've got a pint glass and a gallon of water, that is not going to be able to go into a pint glass, surely anybody knows that and that's what is expected with that culvert."

This was Gaynor's shop after it flooded in November last year when fire crews pumped water out of the building.

In response, Neath Port Talbot Council told ITV News Wales that it regrets what happened on 14 August.

It said the "Cryddan Brook once again overtopped the channel at St Catherine’s Close.

"There have been a number of major and minor flooding incidents along the Cryddan Brook in recent years.

"These have occurred due to the trash screens becoming blocked with natural debris and household items, falling or illegally dumped into the brook upstream off private land."

Ms Lloyd wants to see the culvert redesigned to "cope" with the amount of water it deals with.

The council went on to say that the structure "is inspected each week by our crews and is also monitored on a daily basis via hourly CCTV images".

"During the incident we can confirm that the channel overtopped at 5.10am during a heavy and prolonged period of rainfall.

It adds that it is continuing to "develop the case for larger scale flood alleviation across the catchment.

"Additionally the council’s waste enforcement team will be reminding residents that dumping any material into watercourses is illegal and will increase the risk of flooding.

“Following incidents of flooding in premises, the council helps with clear-ups and gives advice on insurance.”

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