Plaid Cymru MS calls for Welsh Government support for Carmarthenshire flood victims

Adam Price MS (05/11/25) called on the Welsh Government to support flood victims in Carmarthenshire and to prioritise future preventative measures.

The Plaid Cymru Member, who represents Carmarthen East & Dinefwr, raised the issue with the Deputy First Minister in the Senedd during topical questions.

Many parts of Carmarthenshire have been affected by severe flooding following torrential rainfall. Natural Resources Wales published several flood warnings on Tuesday (04/11/25) night, many of which are still in effect today.

Mr Price asked:

“I would like to pay tribute to all the public services, the staff of the local authority and emergency services and others who really worked heroically overnight rescuing vulnerable residents and trying their best, to mitigate the damage.

But what residents will want to hear is an assurance that the Government is working as hard as it can on ensuring that this doesn’t keep happening to the same communities. What is in place, in terms of investment, to ensure that, as far as we can, we’re protecting the communities from going through the same cycle time after time again?

What financial support can be provided, both to the local authority, but also directly to individuals? Many of them, of course, don’t have insurance precisely because they’ve been flooded repeatedly. 

And can I make a particular plea on behalf of villages like Pontargothi? Residents there have been flooded time and time again. Yet, because they’re small communities, they don’t meet the investment threshold necessary to become a priority for the flooding investment programme of the Welsh Government. Isn’t it now time that we had a specific pot of money for these smaller rural communities that are facing the tremendous despairing situation of being flooded time after time after time?”

Huw Irranca-Davies MS, the Deputy First Minister responded by saying:

“One of the things we can do is to make sure that we are continuing the levels of investment that we do, both in terms of the large flood defence schemes, but also those smaller initiatives that make a real difference on the ground, where we work with the local authorities and put the funding into those local flood authorities so that they can invest.

There is in place, as you know, the emergency financial assistance scheme, EFAS, that has trigger points. 

Can I say as well that this year we’ve made £1.2 million available for schemes in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr? That’s four local authority schemes; one scheme by NRW. We’ve completed now, as I’ve said, the NRW scheme in Ammanford. That’s 386 properties protected. That was an investment of £4.1 million.”

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