The fallout from Storm Darragh before Christmas cost Ceredigion County Council more than £400,000 as the authority undertook emergency repairs across the county and pulled in staff to work overtime, a report has revealed.

A report on the council’s in-year finances to be put before the council’s overview and scrutiny co-ordinating committee on 2 July said the costs of winter storms in the 2024/25 budget had been “significant.”

The report said that the council incurred costs during 2024/25 of £441,000, with more than £411,000 of that coming just from the impact of Storm Darragh which hit the county on 6 and 7 December.

The storm caused chaos across the county, with wind gusts in excess of 90mph battering Ceredigion and leaving thousands without power.

Ahead of the storm a government-issued severe alert was sent to mobile phones urging residents to stay indoors and not to drive after the Met Office issued a red warning for wind.

Storm Darragh followed quickly on the heels of Storm Bert which brought heavy rain and strong winds causing flooding and damage across large parts of south Ceredigion at the end of November.

The report to be put before members says: “Costs included deploying staff outside of normal working hours, the cost of a damaged vehicle, Aberystwyth Promenade repair works plus emergency repair works to numerous council properties and other council assets.”

Costs included clearing a significant volume of trees and debris from roads, footpaths, public rights of way and nature reserves.

Teams from Ceredigion County Council worked all weekend clearing trees from the highways, with A and B roads given priority.

The council also made a small number of householder grants for properties which were flooded during the storm, the report said.

Ceredigion County Council opened leisure centres in Cardigan and Plascrug as the storm raged to provide a safe, warm space.

The doors of the council offices at Penmorfa in Aberaeron were also thrown open.

“Costs relate to both the initial Emergency Response phase and also the follow on Recovery Phase, however only the former are covered by the Welsh Government’s Emergency Financial Assistance Scheme (EFAS) and those costs did not exceed the council’s EFAS threshold of £390k,” the report added.

It was reported earlier this year that in Powys, the county council’s response to Storm Bert in November and Storm Darragh in December cost £345,000 while the recovery work is estimated to cost £1.1 million.

In Gwynedd, the response to Storm Bert and Storm Darragh cost the council around £400,000.

Cllr June Jones, the Cabinet Member for Highways, Engineering and Ymgynghoriaeth Gwynedd Consultancy, reported earlier this year that “at one point, during Darragh there were around 30 roads blocked at the same time.”

Costs, she said, had been incurred by work teams using specialist equipment to deal with very large and sometimes dangerous, precariously balanced trees blocking the roads.

It also included more overtime payments, as the staff put in longer hours to try and keep up with the unprecedented issues.