Flash floods action pledge

Council bosses have pledged to prevent a repeat of flash floods which caused chaos in Newtown this week.

Powys County Council said it was in discussions to prevent any similar incidents.

More than one inch of water fell in 20 minutes leaving businesses, homes and motorists facing chaos.

John Evans, council spokesman, said: "The events of this week have left us looking at ways we could possibly make a safe flood route through the town."

He added: "All council staff worked extremely hard in Newtown on the day in order to ensure people's safety and during the clean-up, with many members of staff staying on until gone 9pm. Now we want to prevent it happening again."

Councillor Russell George, member for Newtown Central, said his music shop Fuze, in Broad Street, was hit by the weather.

He said: "Water came through the roof of the kitchen and we lost up to £500 worth of stock. It was like it was raining inside.

"Even when the drains have been well maintained and cleared, when you get a freak occurrence with a massive amount of rain falling in such a short period of time the only way to manage this is to have good plans in place to limit damage as much as possible.

"A safe route is one idea being considered. This would mean water could be channelled away down a suitable route."