Staff who were called into work on Sunday afternoon, 21 January to work through the disruption in Ceredigion have been praised and thanked for their hard work.
Unexpected heavy rainfall experienced on Sunday caused wide-spread flooding across the county and required a prompt response from On-Duty Officers. Incident Response Arrangements were put into place by 1pm with Duty Officers and four other officers attending the Glanyrafon Depot to co-ordinate work. In the North, five crews were called in to travel to the main areas affected by flooding, four support staff were called in to take and log calls as well as four members of staff who were called in to fill additional sandbags. In the South, the Duty Officer co-ordinated the response, with three crews responding to flood incidents.
Eifion Evans, Ceredigion County Council Chief Executive said, “The rainfall was much heavier than expected on Sunday. The standard out-of-hours provision consists of two duty officers - one in the north of the county and another in the south. There are also two 24/7 response crews - again one covering the north of the county and another in the south.
But due to flooding that affected areas across the County, staff were called in and eventually we had 30 members of staff making sure that disruption was kept to a minimum and that the people of Ceredigion were kept safe. The staff who were called in didn’t have to come in when asked to, but they answered the call none the less. I’m very grateful that the Council can rely on such a dedicated workforce that can be called-in at a moment’s notice to carry out essential work. They worked very hard.”
86 calls were received and responded to between 3pm and 8.30pm on Sunday, with a peak of calls between 3pm and 6pm.
Councillor Ellen ap Gwynn, Leader of Ceredigion County Council, said, “I am very proud to see members of the Council staff giving up their time and working hard in aid of others. This was a tremendous effort especially as all involved are back in work today, dedicated to doing their day job!”
Priority was given to road closures where necessary and to properties in imminent threat of flooding as well as the ongoing provision of sandbags.
22/01/2018