FLASH flooding which closed the main road between Capel Bangor and Aberystwyth was “unprecedented”, according to the local councillor.

Cllr Rhodri Davies, who represents the Melindwr ward, said that the rainfall and subsequent flooding which shut the A44 for several hours on Sunday, 21 January, leaving some motorists stranded, “hasn’t been experienced for a long time”.

“Despite a lot of recent work that has been done to maintain drainage along the A44, the sheer volume of rain that fell on the already saturated mountains here meant that there were several floods even on higher ground,” said Cllr Davies.

Over 40mm of rain fell in just 24 hours.

“There were puddles everywhere, many in places where the have never been problems before, as the runoff tried to find its way down the mountains,” added Cllr Davies.

“I along with many other agencies involved will be continuing to do what we can, but with weather such as that we experienced on Sunday, all you can do is deal with problems as they arise and hope that it affects as few people as possible.

“We should thank council officers who worked so hard during this time to do what they could, and it’s always nice to see when neighbours look after each other.”

There was major flooding on a number of other roads including the A487 between Aberystwyth and Talybont and the A4159 road between Bow Street and Lovesgrove.

On Facebook the county council was criticised by some people who claimed the authority did not clear up sufficient winter debris from roadside verges and drains before the floods.

However, Natural Resources Wales has said the flooding was caused by a combination of high rainfall quantities and saturated fields.

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