STORM BERT hit Welsh First Minister’s Questions today as politicians sought answers regarding last weekend’s flooding.

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew Davies wanted to know why earlier warnings had not been given before Storm Bert hit Wales.

He said: “The first some residents knew about the flooding was when their neighbours banged on their doors.

“What are you doing to get to the bottom of the lack of urgency by agencies like Natural Resources Wales (NRW) with flood warnings?”

First Minister Eluned Morgan said that the various agencies and emergency services had worked hard at the weekend to support residents and businesses hit by the flooding.

She said: “We will work with NRW to see if better warnings could have been given.”

The FM said that £300 million in flood defences had been spent since Storm Dennis in 2020 and though thousands of homes and businesses had been flooded then, the number this time was in the hundreds.

Ms Morgan also said that her government was paying £500 to affected households with insurance, and £1,000 to those without.

Firefighters have demanded urgent action from the Westminster government for UK-wide flood resilience.

Following Storm Bert, the Fire Brigades Union has written to ministers to demand a statutory duty on fire and rescue services in England to respond to flooding, a requirement in the devolved nations.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “Conservative governments refused to bring fire services in England in line with the rest of the UK by implementing a statutory duty for flood response.

“Now is the moment for the Labour government to build resilience and ensure firefighters are equipped with the resources needed for increasing severe floods.”