Following the devastation and chaos on Thursday caused by the floods in Skewern, Neath Port Talbot, with around 80 residents evacuated and having to spend the night in temporary accommodation, the big clean up continues.
At least eight streets were left under water in the village, and it now appears the flood is related to mine works. Council leader Rob Jones said – the volume of water involved has hampered a full assessment so far.
To see the original footage on the day of the flooding go HERE.
Water was flooding out near the junction of Goshen Park and Drummau Road, where there is a record of a mine shaft dating from the turn of the 20th Century.
It then started gushing down Drummau Road, causing the flooding that forced evacuations.
This latest aerial footage from Paul Davies, who lives in Swansea, but originally comes from Skewern, shows the scale of the work going on and the teams who are out dealing with the aftermath.
Skewen itself is a coal mining hotspot, with several former sites close by, operating in the 19th and early 20th Century. The Coal Authority is now investigating to see historic underground mining features in the area aggravated the problem.
There were colliery sites near what is now Drummau Road, in the north of the village and another close to Old Road, near Neath Abbey.
Geologist Tom Backhouse said…….
“What it looks like has happened on the junction of Goshen Park and Drummau Road, where the mine shaft is recorded, is that pressure has built up at that point and then burst out through the shaft which is very likely to have been capped with wood or something like that.
“Where you’ve got those mine shafts, which ultimately are vertical tunnels down into the mine workings below, the water has literally forced itself up through that shaft, and the pressure is obviously so great it’s caused this devastating flash flood.”
“If another event like Storm Christoph happens, the water levels in the mine rises as quickly as it did, there’s absolutely nothing to say that it wouldn’t happen again in the future.