UK floods: Terrified residents forced to flee homes after massive landslide buries street

Homeowners successful Cwmtillery, South Wales were forced to evacuate aft their thoroughfare was buried successful stinking three-foot heavy sludge pursuing a monolithic landslide arsenic Storm Bert continues to wreak havoc

Terrified residents told contiguous however they had to fly their homes arsenic a massive landslide deed their terraced thoroughfare during Storm Bert.

Locals successful the erstwhile mining municipality of Cwmtillery, South Wales, said they had to ascent retired of their windows to flight the “river of mud”. A torrent of water, soil, rocks and trees struck Woodland Terrace without informing connected Sunday nighttime aft hours of torrential rain.

It near the thoroughfare buried successful stinking three-foot heavy sludge - and forced dozens of residents to evacuate. Local Rob Scholes, 75, told the Mirror: “It was beauteous scary to beryllium honest. We had to ascent retired of a model to escape.

“We didn’t perceive it coming but a neighbour saw a large histrion lying astatine the extremity of the thoroughfare and realised what had happened. She told america to marque definite we didn’t unfastened our beforehand doorway due to the fact that the full location would person filled with mud.

"The mud was knee-deep, it was horrible. It’s scary to deliberation it’s each travel down disconnected the mountainside. It could person been a batch worse. I haven’t been capable to get backmost into the location but I’m not definite determination volition beryllium excessively overmuch damage. A fewer of the different residents opened their doors truthful I fearfulness their properties volition person fared a batch worse.”

Rob, primitively from South London, added: “I’ve been present for 17 years and person ne'er known thing similar this. Luckily my girl lives 4 miles away, truthful my woman and I went circular determination to slumber connected the sofa. There is cipher to blasted for this, it’s conscionable nature. We’re conscionable each precise thankful that cipher was hurt.”

Photos from the country showed a achromatic car swamped by the landslide, which reportedly came from a disused mine. Water continued to gush from the mountainside down the broadside of terraced houses earlier this morning.

Locals said occurrence crews warned them determination was a information of monolithic boulders falling onto their homes. Resident Wayne Green said helium was forced to evacuate with his household pursuing the incident.

“It was a agelong night,” helium said. “They couldn’t find accommodation for america until 1.30am. We were good looked aft successful the leisure centre, with blistery drinks and sandwiches.”

Becky Ashford-Singer said: “Everybody from the thoroughfare came out, determination were radical with shovels for astir 3 hours. We stayed present overnight. We were told by constabulary that if we heard sirens oregon whistles, past we person to evacuate. It was rather scary, particularly due to the fact that we’ve got 2 children. We were thinking; bash we enactment awake and hold to perceive oregon bash we spell to sleep?”