Llanelli stands on the north shore of the Loughor Estuary.Much of the low lying part of the town stands on reclaimed land and this area was orinigally full of docks and industrial buildings as well as the terraced houses for workers. The last massive flood suffereed by the town was in 1896 when a huge tidal flood, aided by the tail of an Atlantic Hurricane, submerged all of the lower areas of the town and also cut off the nearby town of Burry Port as both road and rail links there were washed away
With global warming and increasing sea level rise, unlikely to be reversed anytime soon, Carmarthenshire County Council planners have reacted by approving or encouraging several significant housing and other developments close to the sea shore. In the case of housing developments they have claimmed that raising the land beneath the new homes and gardens is enough to protect them. Unfortunately they have decided not to raise the road access so these estates could become islands when the floods do come.
The project for a large "Health and Wellness" centre at the tidal Delta Lakes site close to the Llanelli shore was rather questionable from the start. Had it gone ahead (it was exposed as a rather fraudulent project and rejected for City Deal Funding) future flooding could have endangered not only the elderly in its care home environments, but also the residents of any housing built there and the workers in the pharmaceutical themed industrial park.
When I moved to Llanelli 26 years ago the risk of massive flooding from the estuary was quoted as a one in 1000 year event. Its now a probability of one in 100 years and National Resources Wales has advised that "one in a hundred" events well may eventually become annual events unless the warming can be reversed. The true situation seems to be that even with our "best efforts" at present we will be lucky to slow the temperature rises and there is very little chance of keeping the sea level at bay, howver high the piles of earth on which the new homes are planned by Carmarthenshire County Council are to be built.
The County Council Planners seemed initially to ignore the dangers of Climate Change. There were supposedly plans for the heavy metal contaminted old Grillo Chemical Factory site on the sea front and new housing for areas around Burry Port Harbour. Currently the coastal erosion of an area near Burry Port has exposed the asbestos burried there after the Carmarthen Bay Power station was demolished in the 1990s and much of the asbestos was simply covered with soil by the bulldozers. This contaminated beach is part of the millenium coastal park, currently cordoned off while the visible asbestos is collected from the beach.
The rising sea level is surely likely to erode more of the hidden asbestos in future and the authorities are, I understand, cosidering employing a speicalist removal Firm to advise. Asbestos from the old power station is no stranger to the Royal MiLLenium Coastal Park and in dry periods can be seen on the banks and bottoms of the park's ponds near the old industrial site. The increasing coastal erosion may simply release more of it. At a time when more tourists are coming to appreciate the beauty of the coastline, beach barriers and warnings are a blow to our local tourism industry. Perhaps a more mediteranian climate, hotels and swimming pools may be the future of tourism - or perhaps not if the weather is not only hot but violent?
In the last 2 decades Carmarthenhsire county Council has put house building before the environment, even though it has been aware that significant amounts of our sewage has not been treated and although the situation of sewage spills has improved, Welsh Water Dwr Cymru has still not been able to treat all local domestic sewage, even today. Now it is the rising sea which is the big threat. Much of the town is at risk and already many rivers and streams are tide locked - huge valves in place to shut out the sea at high tide where the watercourses meet the sea. As the sea level rises, the rivers run more and more risk of back flow flooding into the town against these valvesif sea level rises.The changing weather patterns of more intense rainfall and more violent storms are likely to worsen the situation.
The latest reports on the likely sea level rise now suggest that we need to take the situation more seriously or face the catastrophy of severe weather , storms and flooding with no prior planning . The report by Climate Central is surely a big "wake Up" call.
https://nation.cymru/news/updated-climate-change-sea-level-risk-map-shows-large-parts-of-wales-flooded-by-2050
I would hope the Senedd are up to speed with all this and can give all of us under threat good advice and strong protection for the coming years. Those whose homes, jobs and communities are on the front line need urgent guidance.
Update:28/08/2021
TIME FOR HONESTY AND LEADERSHIP
I am informed today by a well qualified local engineer that in the current climate emergency, the only effective flood protection solution for the threatened parts of Llanelli would be a damn or barrage across the mouth of the Loughor estuary which could both protect the low lying areas of the town from the sea and aiso allow the rivers and streams to flow outwards rather than backflow against the tide locks, otherwise the rivers would be blocked, producing freshwater flooding inland.
A decision has to be made soon, construction is likely to be expensive and take several years. Otherwise we have to know the alternative if saving the land and homes is not possible. Sennedd members,National and local civil servants and local County Councillors have known about the threat for some time. They have been warned of the likely flooding by National Resources Wales and other sources such as the recent Climate Central figures, which show the 2050 sea level rise as one which may well drown all of Machynys and much of the other land in Llanelli reclaimed from the sea during and since the Industrial Revolution.
Climate change with its likely severe weather, storms and flooding should surely be the most important issue in Llanelli today but our local and National Politicians are largely silent on the topic. If we are told that a crisis is coming we should preapre for it. If there is no money and no time to proetct those under threat , it is surely a time for some painful honesty and arrangements to permanently move those at risk out of harm's way and to places they can live in safety.
Sian Caiach
