Thick, dark slurry flecked with stones and twigs covers the entire ground floor of Ralph Connor and Tina Honeyfield’s terraced house in the former coal mining village of Cwmtillery in south Wales. They use the lights on their phone to show what happened when a long-abandoned coal tip collapsed during last weekend’s torrential rainfall and surged through their front and back doors.
“Our house bore the brunt of the landslide… I spent an hour holding the door to prevent the slurry from getting in [last Sunday night],” says Connor, 49, as he stands in the cold gloom of their powerless living room. “It was frightening but when you are in it, you just react. It’s fight or flight.”
The millions of tonnes of coal dug up from rich seams below Cwmtillery and other Welsh valleys powered British industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. But the mining companies left behind giant spoil piles on hillsides, which now pose a growing threat to the miners’ descendants – not only because torrential rain can cause landslides, but because the carbon emitted from that same coal they extracted hundreds of years ago is driving up global temperatures and causing heavier rainfall.
View image in fullscreen
The tip above Connor and Honeyfield’s home was categorised as posing the highest risk to public safety under a Welsh government programme launched after a landslip in a nearby former mining valley in 2020. Overall, there are 360 coal tips deemed to be a risk in Wales, which are inspected either twice a year or once a year because increasingly intense rainfall is making them more unstable.
The entire Connor-Honeyfield family, including their two teenage children, have been placed in a family room in a Premier Inn since the landslip. But they come back regularly because they run the community cafe in the village. Other residents have also been moved out in case more of the tip comes down. “People are angry that we were living under a tip that we didn’t know was dangerous,” says Honeyfield, 49. “I’d like it to be removed because then I wouldn’t need to worry.”
The Welsh government estimated it needed at least £500m to £600m to remedy the country’s tips in 2021 but the Conservative government failed to provide extra funding. The Labour government allocated £25m in its first budget but it costs between £30m and £40m to reclaim a single tip. “I think lifelong Labour voters are disillusioned. They feel the valleys have been neglected,” says Honeyfield. “It’s always been Labour, so they are putting responsibility at their door.”
Now a political party which denies that the flooding is linked to climate change, and has made opposition to net zero one of its flagship policies, may reap the rewards. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which came second in 13 constituencies across Wales in the general election, has targeted Wales’s Senedd elections in 2026 as its next breakthrough moment.
View image in fullscreen
There are some signs of support for Reform outside Connor and Honeyfield’s cafe, Caffi Tyleri. A group of dog walkers are finishing their coffees. “I’ve voted Labour all my life… and my mum and dad did… but that’s it,” says Christine Taylor, 78, a retired factory supervisor, who has lived in the area all her life. “I’m going to give Reform a go and see what they do.”
The landslide has triggered painful memories of the Aberfan disaster, where a coal tip slipped down a hillside killing 116 children and 28 adults in 1966. “It brings back memories [of Aberfan] to every Welsh person because it was such a terrible, terrible time. I knew a first-year teacher who perished [in the disaster],” says Pat Lewis, 77, a retired teacher, sitting outside the cafe. Lewis has also voted Labour her entire life. But she is not sure if she will in two years. “They need to sort out [the tips]. It has happened here. It could be a lot worse somewhere else. Who knows? Who knew about Aberfan?”
The same intense downpour which may have caused the landslip in Cwmtillery also filled rivers across the Welsh valleys. In the market town of Pontypridd, which is 20 miles away, the River Taff burst its banks again, flooding many of the same homes that were inundated during Storm Dennis in 2020.
While fewer properties flooded than last time, feelings are still running high. Lesley Glennie, 57, says her husband only received a text message flood warning, which indicates homes will be flooded, once the water was bubbling up through their laminate boards. “I’m bloody angry,” she says, as a multitude of dehumidifiers dry out her sodden floors and walls. “We had no warning. We didn’t have a clue… it came up six inches in the end.”
Her daughter, Becky Carney, 30, who is autistic, found the experience terrifying: “I hate feeling trapped and claustrophobic. When I saw the water coming in, everything was going to mind. I thought I was going to drown. I felt so overwhelmed.”
skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Observed
Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers
after newsletter promotion
The Labour first minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, claimed last week that investment in flood defences had protected a significant number of homes in Wales. But this is no comfort to Glennie, who is furious more has not been done to protect the town since 2020. “This happened in Storm Dennis. I don’t want to go through any more floods. I don’t want [Becky] to go through them,” she says. “I won’t vote Labour ever again. But who can you trust? Who will help us?”
View image in fullscreen
While Natural Resources Wales (NRW) insists flood warnings in Pontypridd were issued at 7.41am on Sunday, some residents claim the first they heard about the flood was a knock from Carolyn Morton, who runs the dental laboratory on the road. “Nobody was to be seen when the river went on Sunday morning,” says Morton, who rushed to the road after seeing river levels rise on the NRW website.“I am angry with the authorities because they keep passing the buck. Nobody wants to take responsibility.”
On the other side of the river, the same homes flooded again. Some residents complain that they were denied floodgates, which were installed by the council after the last flood. “This is climate change… but there are things that could have been done to help us. We applied for a flood gate but they said we weren’t eligible,” says Linda Davies, 78, who has been moved out of her flooded, damaged home again. “They didn’t want to know.”
People who moved in since the last floods hoped the road would be better protected. “We knew it had flooded in Storm Dennis but we were told the official categorisation was a once-in-a-century storm,” says Mike Crippen, 49, who works for Cardiff University. “This was meant to be a long-term place but, if we decide we can’t live with the river now, it might be hard to sell again.” He was alerted to the flood by Davies, who knocked on his door. He now needs to replace the kitchen and find temporary accommodation. He has applied for a £1,000 flood recovery grant from the Rhondda Cynon Taf council. “The insurance has paid for everything… but they have pulled out [of] the market now. The new company will probably hike the premiums.”
Reform UK’s newly appointed Welsh lead spokesperson, Oliver Lewis, is eyeing up an opportunity: “It is highly likely support for us will continue to grow, particularly in south Wales.” He claims political parties in government in Cardiff and London are being held responsible for the failure to invest in Welsh infrastructure, including flood defences: “[The flooding in Wales] reflects inadequate flood defences.” Lewis, however, denies it is linked to climate change: “That’s a red herring. It’s ridiculous. Britain has had bad weather forever... the issue is that these debates are being hijacked on the basis of the climate changing... instead of very serious, legitimate questions being asked about governance.”
Back in Cwmtillery, a soft dusk is falling over the tightly packed terraces clinging to the valley. Connor thinks the UK government should take responsibility for the legacy of the coal used to power the British economy: “All of these Welsh resources were stolen… taken... stripped away and Wales has been left with the aftermath, which is genuinely dangerous.”
∎