I just wanted to write a piece to praise the people of Rhyl and the emergency services for their actions during the flooding yesterday
I was covering the event for the Rhyl Journal and just before high tide it looked like the sea defenses had held and other than strong winds and a trickle of water getting through the only danger was people taking risks watching the crashing waves
At high tide I made my way to east parade to get a few pics at Splash point where a couple of cars had been submerged underwater
Shortly after I tried cutting through the estate in order to head to Prestatyn but was stopped by a small volume of water . By the time I made it to the coast road ( 2 mins ) the entire area was underwater and the level was raising rapidly trapping people in their homes . This evacuation quickly turned to a rescue operation with residents banging on windows signalling they were trapped inside
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| Fire and rescue service dwarfed by huge wave breaking against the sea defenses in Rhyl |
At this point I witnesses my 1st act of heroism . A female Police Officer was directing traffic then reacted to banging on a window by a trapped resident, entered the water in just her uniform and helped get the elderly lady to safety
Herself and many other Police officers remained in the water for a length of time knocking on doors making sure that residents were evacuated despite the freezing water and without protection
Helping the rescue alongside the emergency services were residents of Rhyl and the surrounding area who were sheltering victims in their homes , offloading sandbags and physically carrying people on their shoulders to safety in nightmare conditions . ( The images do not show the strength of the wind that at certain times was gusting strong enough to knock you off your feet )
Due to the quick response of residents and the emergency services as far as I am aware nobody was seriously injured
Rhyl is an amazing community with a great spirit and it has heroes by the bucket-load in it's residents and local emergency services
