A FARMING family who lost more than 200 of their prime sheep when a river burst its banks have spoken of their fears following fresh flood warnings.
The Morris family were devastated last February when a flash flood led to the Dee bursting its banks and turning the field, where their flock was grazing at Bangor on Dee, into a vast lake.
Fearing a repeat of last winter the family has now moved its animals to higher ground after new flood warnings in the lower Dee Valley this week.
Last year there were heart-rending scenes as millions of gallons of swirling water drowned 230 sheep despite frantic efforts to save them.
Firefighters used special collapsible boats to rescue about 70 of the terrified animals.
Yesterday Glenys Morris said: “Last year the floods happened so quickly there wasn’t time for the Environment Agency to give us any proper warning about what was coming.
“This time we’ve had a couple of flood warnings and on Tuesday we moved all the sheep out of the field that flooded and into a safer area on the other side of the road.
“It was a terrible experience losing all those sheep last February and we were absolutely devastated.
“They were our very best young female breeding stock – the pride of the flock, the elite, which we have been caring for all winter.
“My husband, Eryl, couldn’t bear to be there when they came to take the piles of bodies away and our friends rallied round to help with it.
“It has taken us all this year to recover.
“A lot of people would go into despair if this sort of thing happened to them but we are farmers and this is our life.
“We have just had to get on with it.”
Environment Agency Wales said yesterday river levels were above normal but flooding of property is not expected at the moment.
A bulletin said: “Flood defences are now in operation and the situation on site is being constantly monitored.”
Meanwhile, managers at Bangor on Dee Racecourse, which is close to the field where the sheep drowned last year, said they were keeping a close eye on the weather ahead of the big winter meeting tomorrow.
Course manager Jeannie Chantler said: “At the moment we don’t see a problem but we are closely monitoring the situation.
“We might have to make alterations to the card in line with areas of the course we can race on.”
- Late on Tuesday night storm force winds disrupted electricity supplies to about 500 customers in Gwersyllt.
A spokesman for ScottishPower said: “We began receiving reports of flashing lights in the area at 10pm.
“This was due to a fault in the overhead network caused by the strong winds.
“It affected about 500 customers but the majority had full supplies restored within a couple of hours and everyone was back by 2am.
“We apologise for the inconvenience.”