Chapter 9(Preview)

Call 999

Visit flood-warning.naturalresources.wales or call the Natural Resources Wales
Floodline on 0345 988 1188 (24 hours a day)

Call National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 (24 hours a day)

Call Welsh Water on 0800 052 0130 or 0800 085 3968

Call 105 or visit powercut105.com

Call Cyngor Gwynedd Local Authority on 0176 677 1000 or Powys
County Council on 0159 782 5275 (out of hours).

Call your local council:

• Ceredigion County Council on 0154 557 0881 (during office hours)
• Powys County Council on 0345 602 7035

Call Ceredigion County Council:

• North Ceredigion on 0197 062 5277
• South Ceredigion 0123 985 1604

Contact your insurers and follow their advice

Here, conducting critical reviews, creating partnerships, securing funding and using the latest planning tools are key to drawing in funding from government, and lobbying ministers for the critical resource we need to support future adaptation

Seek integrated funding for projects that offer multiple benefits, such as flood risk reduction, improving nature and restoring peat.

Strengthen local planning policies to steer new building projects away from high-probability flood zones and require climate-resilient standards for any permitted development.

Embed periodic adaptation reviews (for example, every five years) that update assumptions, incorporate new projections and adjust pathways. Incorporating transparent, stakeholder-led review processes help to build legitimacy and flexibility

Use UK Climate Projections (UKCP18) and the Welsh regional sea level allowances to evaluate a range of futures and stress-test designs to 2075 and beyond.

Local authorities and National Resource Wales must include sea level allowances and regional guidance in local flood risk management plans and any decision-making to avoid locking in new development in high-risk zones.

Design for flexibility and incremental adaptation rather than single, irreversible solutions to avoid any regrettable investments.

Expand and formalise partnerships that include National Resources Wales, local authorities, Dyfi Biosphere, farmers, utilities and community groups. This is so they can better coordinate natural flood management, modelling and mapping of contaminated river channels and floodplains, and strategic nature-based solutions.

As much as possible, restore saltmarshes, dunes and peat as living, adaptive defences, and use engineered structures selectively if critical assets need protecting.

Restore saltmarshes and dunes

Allowing space for saltmarshes and dunes which attenuate wave energy and trap sediment to migrate inland (where feasible) increases long term coastal resilience.

Adaptive or planned retreat – where land is allowed to revert to intertidal habitat – is already a recommended option in many UK estuaries and may be appropriate for parts of the Dyfi where long-term protection is not possible. This approach needs to be carefully managed in close collaboration with local landowners whose livelihoods depend on this land.

Conserve peat and bogs

Maintaining Cors Fochno and the surrounding bogs keeps peat functioning as water storage. It also reduces flooding and protects nature.
Evidence from the peat record also argues for protecting these archives as they contain long records of past storm events.
One example of this conservation work is taking place in the Elan Valley, where two successful restoration projects are helping to stop the erosion of peat and protect 28 hectares of blanket bog.

Conduct natural flood protection measures

Planting leaky dams and restoring woodland and riverbanks can slow flow, retain sediment and reduce downstream flood peaks. They are most effective when applied in combination and across many small upland sub-catchments – and when landowners are involved.

Work at catchment scale

River flood risk, sediment supply and contamination originate upstream. Catchment-scale natural flood management and land-use measures reduce flood peaks, trap sediment and deliver biodiversity co-benefits. Measures like restoring woodland introducing sustainable grazing for livestock – can help reduce erosion.

Evidence from local initiatives, such as those at Pennal and Talybont, demonstrates multiple local benefits when farmers and communities lead projects.

However these schemes need to be mitigated with other defences in catchments with drainage areas greater than 10km2, as they do not offer protection or reduce the severity of the effects of larger floods, such as the event in Ceredigion June 2012.

It is crucial to protect the Dyfi Estuary’s infrastructure and design engineering solutions that are adaptive, easy to maintain and ecologically friendly.

Maintain critical infrastructure

The Aberystwyth-Machynlleth railway line runs through low-lying coastal and river valley areas, making it highly vulnerable to climate change. Rising sea levels and more frequent, intense floods will increase the risk of embankment breaches, track washouts and service disruptions.

For local communities, this means reduced reliability for commuting, tourism and emergency access – potentially isolating villages and impacting livelihoods. Without major adaptation measures, such as strengthening embankments or raising sections of track, these disruptions could become more frequent and severe, affecting both the economy and daily life in the Dyfi valley.

Find the key roads and utilities (like the A487 road, bridges or water treatment works) that would cause a large ripple effect if they failed. Protect them using better designs, raised roads and stronger sea walls built for future water levels.

Avoid blanket hardening of the coast (which uses materials like rock, concrete or steel), which can cause intertidal habitat loss.

Implement design standards that allow for adaptation

Engineering designs should allow for design structures that can be raised or taken apart later (in modular parts with sections that can be replaced easily), using materials and shapes that reduce maintenance and ecological impact.

There are several ways to keep contaminated sediment, river channels and floodplains in check.

Map and monitor contaminated mine waste and tailings (fine grain residues generated from the milling process of mining operations)

Create a prioritised inventory of legacy mine sites and downstream contaminated river channels and floodplains.

Fix or secure high-risk mine waste piles (spoil tips) by planting vegetation or building protective structures to stop contaminants from spreading in the future.

Produce risk maps for communities and farmers living on contaminated floodplains.

Assess sediment quality before any work takes place

Environmental Impact Assessments for any new project that disturbs floodplains or tidal muds must assess metal concentrations and pathways to avoid disturbing any polluted sediment.

If disturbing the sediment is unavoidable, create and implement containment, remediation or safe disposal measures.

Fixing key upland waste will reduce any future pollution. New modelling and mapping tools can help locate contaminated river channels and floodplains, as well as offer clear guidance on how to manage them.

Improve tide and river-level gauges, upland rainfall networks, and sediment and water-quality sensors in key tributaries.

Use combined river-tide forecasting models to give accurate compoundevent (when several flood drivers happen at once i.e. storm surge from the sea during high tide and river flood, which can increase the effects of flooding) warnings. You can learn more about flood warnings and alerts on the Natural Resources Wales website.

Create community-accessible visual data maps and clear local guidance. Real-time information strengthens our community’s response and supports local decision-making.

This is all about making sure communities are ready for change and have a say in how decisions are made.

Community flood plans and property adaptations

Strengthen local flood action groups, produce rehearsed evacuation plans, identify community refuge sites and priority-access routes, and promote property-level resilience measures (raised electrics, demountable barriers, flood-resilient materials). Decision-making must be participatory and transparent.

Encourage homeowners to take steps to insure their properties, while also lobbying for fair insurance arrangements.

Support for people and their livelihoods

To help those people whose homes and farms can no longer be protected, we need a fair, long-term approach that helps them relocate as well as compensates them for their losses. This plan also needs to determine how to strategically move sea defences back – all in way that protects communities and preserve social cohesion and local economies.

The Dyfi catchments peatlands, floodplain and estuarine sediments store ancient records of past sea level change and human activity.

Any adaptation projects – especially adaptive or planned retreat, dredging or floodplain work – must factor in archaeological surveys and monitoring to record threatened heritage.

By working with universities, museums and heritage groups, we can protect historical sites. This involves selective excavation, protecting other sites where they stand and educating the public to show that saving these sites form part of your resilience planning.