Skenfrith residents were invited to a meeting last month following the serious flooding events of recent years.

October 2019 and February 2020 saw storms bringing high water levels to the River Monnow with flood water entering homes in the village with insurance claims amounting to over £2.6 million.Members of Monmouthshire County Council’s (MCC) Emergency Planning department, Mark Jenkins from Gwent Police, Darren Cleaves of South Wales Fire and Rescue, Melanie Kendall and Chris Nutt from Natural Resources Wales all joined Ross Price, MCC’s Flood Lead and met with nine residents and two community councillors to discuss a way forward with an emergency flood response arrangement for any further serious flood events.Following a discussion about the roles to be played by the emergency services and MCC, three options were available to residents in a flood situation. Self-evacuation, remaining at home, and emergency evacuation if the situation escalated.Residents preferred to stay in their homes, taking the necessary actions to protect their belongings.Window signs had been sent to all 23 residential properties in the village so homeowners could indicate whether they were safe - either upstairs or self-evacuated - or had a problem at the property and needed assistance. This would give emergency personnel an immediate visual assessment of the home-owners. If events escalated, a rest centre would be set up by MCC until it was safe to return home.The community already had a ’Whatsapp’ group for sharing messages and being ’flood-prepared’.They were grateful to MCC’s Carl Touhig for the clean-up assistance after recent events saying it had proved invaluable.A telemetry gauge is being set up at Norton Brook with a camera that residents would be able to log into to see live water levels and still pictures of the brook every 15 minutes as the brook is one of the offenders in a flood situation as when the river level is high, the brook would burst its banks.Residents also asked that drains could be kept clear as it was evident that some were visibly blocked.It was pointed out that closing the road through Skenfrith would be helpful as the wash from vehicles driving through the village sometimes was enough to break into houses, although in some instances the water came up through the drains.It is hoped the more cohesive approach from the various partners would make any future response to flooding events quicker and residents would be advised on the most appropriate course of action.