PLANS are being formulated to provide better protection from flooding for residents of Dyserth.
The village was particularly badly affected by Storm Babet last month, with The New Inn pub having to temporarily close and incurring £15,000 of damage.
Jason Vernon, who runs his vintage store “Retroelectro” from his Dyserth home, is helping to put together a community group in the village, and has held several meetings on the issue so far.
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and Denbighshire County Council are also offering support.
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Plans for Dyserth community group after Storm Babet flooding devastated village
Smaller community-led measures have also taken place, such as a newly built timber wall along the edge of the waterfall gardens.
Wooden sleepers are also being placed either side of the village church footbridge to keep water in the river.
Sara Pearson, NRW operations manager for flood and water management, said: “NRW are working with Denbighshire County Council to review the situation around the recent floods in Dyserth and look at the possible options.
“We have provided some input into the project and are looking at ways to work together to help deliver improvements for the community.
“On November 2, NRW’s engineering team completed a post-event visual inspection of the main river watercourse.
“This inspection indicated that gravel is starting to accumulate under the A547 road bridge, located near the Voel Coaches premises in Dyserth.
“To further understand the level of accumulation, NRW’s engineering team are now planning to undertake a bed level survey at this location.
“Our officers will liaise with Denbighshire County Council colleagues, the asset owner, should works be deemed necessary under the highway.
“The visual inspection also identified minor damage to private masonry walls following the events. We will communicate our findings to the landowners to ensure repairs are carried out as necessary.”
Denbighshire County Council said last month that it has been looking at developing a flood alleviation scheme for Dyserth.
Jason said: “It’s been positive. We’ve built a wooden timber wall along the edge of the waterfall gardens, which will stop the flow of water into the church yard.
“I think the main concern is keeping as much water flowing in the river bed, and trying to minimise where it can get out to.
“We’re going to be doing some minor works on the footbridge at the church in Dyserth, to ‘dam that over’.
“We’ve got about 140 members on our Facebook group, and are setting up a community group, so that we can soon set up a back account and apply for funding.
“I don’t think all of this will fix all of the problems, but it’s at least rallied everyone. More has happened in the last month than probably in the previous three or four years, which is great.”
A council spokesperson added: “Denbighshire County Council have been working internally and in collaboration with third parties such as Welsh Water and Natural Resources Wales to look at options to try and avoid future occurrences.
“This is an ongoing programme of works aimed at targeting those areas of highest risk, whilst working within available budgets.”
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