AT LEAST 15 properties were flooded in a Denbighshire town as people were evacuated from their homes last night.

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed that boats were used to evacuate eight people from their homes in Ruthin and a further 10 people had 'self-evacuated'.

Denbighshire County Council said rest centres were opened in both St Asaph and Ruthin after some localised flooding following heavy rainfall throughout the day.

These were closed at 11pm last night with water levels beginning to fall but the Council says it will 'continue to monitor' the situation across the county before potentially re-opening the centres if needs be.

A spokesperson for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: "We received a call at 7.10pm to attend the flooding in Ruthin.

"Three of our fire crews attended and assisted with home evacuations, taking residents to the rest centre until water levels dropped.

"15 properties were flooded and boats were used to evacuate eight people and 10 people self evacuated."

North Wales Police were also in attendance in Ruthin and had urged people not to 'add to the problem' by travelling to "see the floods."

Firms such as IT Williams were on hand to provide sand bags during the floods in Ruthin last night.
Its gestures like these, town councillor Jabez Oakes says shows the 'strength of the community' in the town.

Cllr Oakes also expressed concerns over suggestions that Denbighshire County Council were unable to provide sand bags of their own in some cases.

He said: "It is a reassuring thing that we can now know that our community is strong and that we can rely on the good hearts of private individuals to help their community.

"However, I am astonished at stories that the council were unwilling in some cases to provide sand bags or sand to residents in Ruthin and elsewhere. The reason for this being they are not responsible for private property. When you look at official sources it says they will use sand bags to divert flood water etc.

"What if, like yesterday, events have moved on and there is a major risk that peoples homes may be invaded with flood water unless sandbags are placed at their doors.

"If this is the case that this the actual policy of Denbighshire then it needs to be addressed. While we know we can rely on our neighbours for help, we pay taxes so that we shouldn’t have to."

In response, a Denbighshire County Council spokesperson said: "

A spokesperson for Denbighshire County Council said: “Our thoughts are with all our residents who been affected by the severe weather and flooding over the last 24 hours.

“We do not provide sandbags to individual properties. Instead, we use sandbags mainly to protect groups of residents, for example by diverting the path of flowing water, and directing it towards gullies and manholes. This enables us to protect whole streets, whereas giving out sandbags to individual householders in a street would be a far less effective use of resources.

“Some of the water we saw last night was several feet deep, and beyond the point at which sandbags would provide adequate protection to individual properties.  

“Once things get to the point where residential areas are at real risk of flooding, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service become involved, as they have access to large equipment to pump water away from areas at risk.  They also tend to lead on evacuating people from properties that are flooded.  We support the Fire & Rescue Service, and we will bring in sandbags at their request if we jointly feel they will help to protect properties and residents. This is what we did last night in St Asaph, with some success. Unfortunately, there were other areas last night, including in Ruthin, where sandbags would not have been sufficient to stop water ingress into property.”