The Welsh Government is determined to learn lessons from this summer's flood events and is increasing its investment in flood defences by a further £10m.

Environment Minister, John Griffiths made a statement in Plenary about the events that had led to the summer's severe flooding in Ceredigion and Gwynedd and the work that had taken place since to ensure the Welsh Government and relevant authorities are doing all they can to minimise the impact of future events on Welsh homes and businesses.

The Minister said: "At the beginning of June Wales experienced one of its worst flood events when over 100mm of rain fell across Ceredigion in just 24 hours. This resulted in 127 properties and 248 caravans being flooded and caused problems with reservoirs which necessitated the precautionary evacuation of the village in Pennal.

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"I commend the emergency services and other responder agencies for their effective multi agency response and for their swift action which may well have saved lives. The value of planning and of practice exercises, such as Exercise Watermark which took place in Bala in 2011, was certainly evident in the rescue operation."

The Minister said that there were always lessons to be learned when planning, response and recovery arrangements were tested. He confirmed that a number of post incident reports had been produced and referred specifically to an Environment Agency report which contains 11 recommendations aimed at ensuring better flood awareness at a local level, particularly in hard to reach and more vulnerable communities.

(CD/GK)