NEARLY £7m is set to be spent in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) over the next year on schemes to manage the risk of flooding.
In a report to the council’s climate change, frontline services, and prosperity scrutiny committee it says that for 2025-26 the plan is to spend nearly £7m on 41 schemes to directly benefit an extra 1,098 properties.
These schemes include Turberville Road, Porth, with 21 properties set to benefit from a culvert inlet upgrade, ordinary watercourse channel rehabilitation, and access improvements.
Another is at Penrhys Road in Ystrad which is set to benefit 45 properties through a culvert inlet upgrade to manage the risk of blockage and hydraulic overload.
At Dan-y-Cribyn in Ynysybwl 54 properties are set to benefit from the relining and rehabilitation of the ordinary watercourse culvert network.
And at Tirfounder Road-Bro Deg in Cwmbach 31 properties are due to benefit from a flood alleviation scheme to repair the ordinary watercourse channel via scour protection and debris control measures to reduce the risk of blockage to the downstream culvert inlet and network.
The funding includes £2.9m in major pipeline funding from Welsh Government with match funding from the council which includes 10 projects and should benefit 441 homes.
It also includes £1.9m for small-scale schemes worth less than £200,000 with match funding from the council and this includes 13 projects and should benefit 390 properties.
Then there is the Welsh Government Resilient Road Fund of £1.6m which includes 14 projects and should benefit 208 properties.
Finally there is the core RCT funding which totals £430,000, includes four projects, and should benefit 59 properties.
Also by the end of 2025-26 the council aims to have 79 cameras, 46 sensors, and nine rain gauges installed to increase real-time information and improve pre-flood monitoring and flood response.
Since Storm Dennis in 2020 the council has spent more than £23m specifically on a wide range of flood alleviation schemes which it says has benefited 2,728 properties.
These schemes include the Pentre Road culvert inlet, the upper Bronallt Terrace pond in Aberaman, the Glenboi pumping station in Mountain Ash, Bryntail Road in Rhydyfelin, and property flood resistance equipment.
RCT has experienced severe flooding in recent years including during Storm Dennis in February 2020 which caused widespread
damage and affected at least 1,498 properties as well as most recently during Storm Bert in November 2024 where 438 properties were internally flooded.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25 RCT has experienced 116 storm events with a further 10 recorded since the start of the 2025-26 financial year.
According to the 2024 Communities at Risk Register, a tool developed by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to identify and prioritise flood risk across Wales at a community level, RCT is ranked the highest-risk unitary authority for surface water and ordinary watercourse flood risk in Wales accounting for 22.2% of the national total number of high-risk properties at risk of flooding from these sources.
This means that one in five properties in RCT is at risk of flooding.
The total number of properties at risk of flooding from surface water and ordinary watercourses in RCT is projected to increase by 26% as a result of climate change meaning approximately two in five properties in RCT will be at risk of flooding from these sources by 2100.
