4 hours Ago By [email protected] (Stephanie Colderick)
Hundreds of properties have been affected in Rhondda Cynon Taf once again due to flooding as Storm Bert ravaged south Wales and major incident was declared for county. Between 200 to 300 properties, both residential and commercial, were affected and heartbreaking images saw residents bail out water with bins and businesses desperately try and save their livelihoods. Over in Pontypridd's Mill Street Enrico Orsi, who owns Zucco Cafe in Pontypridd , said it was "like a scene from Titanic' as he desperately tried to save his cafe from flooding.
Back in 2020 the street was also hard hit by Storm Dennis which saw businesses across the town ravaged by flood water. Enrico says it was only because he got to his cafe so early that there was no damage but other businesses on the street have been affected. He said: "I opened about 7.
30am, bit of a treacherous drive in...
the outside looked fine, it was raining a lot but there wasn't any surface water or puddles, everything was draining fine...
my first customer arrived at about 7.45am, he opened the door and said 'have you seen this, outside?' and I could see the drains were shooting up like fountains at which point then I started to panic..
. my business was flashing before my eyes. If water gets into a food and drink business like my own, that is just game over until the new year.
" Enrico was able to get flood barriers in place in his cafe, however in his panic put them in the wrong way meaning water could still get in. He said: "It was like a scene from the Titanic with getting buckets of water and getting it out." The business was helped by the local community and its regular customers who came down to help.
This included a builder who sourced Enrico sandbags and they were able to make the cafe watertight. For the latest Pontypridd news, sign up to our newsletter here . Other businesses on the street, who weren't open as early as Enrico to notice the flooding and didn't have flood barriers, began to flood.
Enrico, who was documenting the flooding on social media to appeal for help, said: "By that point, there was just a huge influx of people from the entire community...
there were lots of people down there, lots of familiar faces, some people I had never seen before but everyone just got their hands dirty, quite literally, and just helped in any way they could which was a real positive today in and amongst a really tragic scene. "That community spirit really kept the energy levels up throughout the whole day. We were there from 7am to 5pm, it was a really long day.
" Talking about the community spirit Enrico said the feeling was "palpable in the town and especially on the street of Mill Street, you can really feel that community spirit. Today, as tragic as it is, it is going to make it, as a community, a lot stronger. It was quite an emotional thing to be a part of at times, everybody being there for each other, it was really nice.
" Elsewhere in Pontypridd homes on Sion St, right on the banks of the Taff, were badly flooded, with the community coming together to help there too. Rania Koutsikou, 32, a part-time lecturer and PhD student at the University of South Wales, said: "People are very keen to help, as you can see, everyone is around, offering coffee, offering cookies, fire service are here now." Paula Williams, who also lives on Sion Street, added: "The river levels were going down last night when we went to bed.
We only knew something was happening because we had a neighbour knocking us. She was shouting 'get the cars moved'. "We managed to get the dog out down my parents so we didn't have to worry about her and then it was all hands to the pump.
" She said it was the work of them and neighbours fighting to protect the homes that stopped the flooding being as bad as in 2020. Adding her neighbours bought pumps from Screwfix to hold back the water but it was lucky the water had come in during the morning when people were awake. Other businesses affected on Mill Street include Storyville Books, which Enrico says has been "really badly hit.
.. which is just gutting for them.
" Although normally closed on Mondays Enrico will be opening Zuccos Cafe on Monday, November 25 to "be there for the people who are going to be needing help tomorrow. To show people that we are open for business and that we don't want this to deter people from coming down, we want to let people know that Mill Street is still open for business.".
