HOMES in the centre of Llanfyllin were wrecked by floods after water from a brook gushed through the town, causing devastating damage.
Fire engines were called to properties on the town’s High Street between 6am and 7am on Tuesday to pump water out of flats and houses which were flooded as water cascaded through the buildings, leaving thick mud and silt in its wake.
29-year-old Hannah Eddy woke up to find her flat soaked with water.
“I woke up and stepped into around a foot of water which was freezing cold,” she said.
“I woke up and started screaming.”
Hannah, who works for the British Heart Foundation in Welshpool, lost all of her electrical belongings, as well as books, paperwork, clothes, furniture and carpets.
Glen Goddard, who also lives on High Street, said he woke up to a house full of water and had to rescue his pet ferrets who were flooded out.
“It was a nightmare, there was water and silt everywhere,” he said. “I have a weak heart and things like this don’t help.”
Shops, including the Community Charity Shop and Peter Tomlinson’s Butchers, were left to clean up the mess and debris left by the flood.
Closer to the brook on Brook Street, William Parks’ property was also ravaged by the water.
He said: “I was woken by some flashing lights and looked out of the window, saw the water and it was all systems go.
“It was running right through the house.
“We rushed to put sandbags outside the doors. I could have lost five pups who were on the ground floor in a box.”
Mr Parks blamed the flooding on Powys County Council after finding out that a new alarm system, which is supposed to alert the council if the brook becomes blocked and the water level gets too high, failed.
“It’s all the council’s fault,” he said.
“There’s no need for this, I look after this when the alarm goes off. But this has just left a mess.”
Mary Owen, who lives next to the point where the brook tends to get blocked, said the flooding from the brook was the worse she had seen since June 1992 – 20 years ago.
A spokesman for Powys County Council confirmed the alarm had not worked and they were investigating the cause of the failure.
He also said council staff were at the scene of the flooding to unblock the debris as soon as they became aware of the incident.
Llanfyllin County Councillor Peter Lewis said he was “concerned” and that he would be pursuing the issue to find out what happened. He also paid tribute to the council staff and the fire service for their help in preventing the flooding being even worse.