Huge landslide causes man's garden to collapse into river in middle of the night
A couple were left devastated after their garden suddenly collapsed into a river when a massive landslide struck chaos in their area.
Kevin Davies, from Ystradgynlais, Wales, said his wife frantically woke him up after she heard a "loud bang" and noticed a section of their garden had vanished. Just a few weeks ago, Mr Davies says he reported new cracks that had formed on the structural wall at the bottom of his garden to NRW and the council, a decade after he saw a sink hole form in his garden when water levels rose from the river and flowed underneath the boundary wall.
The homeowner says he is "very worried" about the future of his family home following the incident. Mr Davies claims he's been asking Powys County Council and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to address the issue for years. He explained that the deteriorating boundary wall sits between the end of his garden on Llys Tawel and the fast-flowing River Tawe below.
While he had concerns the wall would eventually collapse, he said he didn't think it would happen for a little while - and not on a night that was otherwise uneventful, a far cry from the storms we saw earlier in the year. Mr Davies says he has previously been told the wall was the homeowners' responsibility - which he disputes.
"We are all safe, we're okay but we're very worried about our property," he said. "This was just hours after a large chunk of his garden wall collapsed into the river below. "I've been battling for 10 years regarding this retaining wall with Powys County Council and NRW due to river erosion and weakening wall. I've been through several MPs, Senedd Members - and things aren't looking positive."
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"A while ago, I researched how the wall was built as I thought the council or NRW was responsible for it but they seemed to think it's the homeowners' responsibility. The retaining wall was built in 1912 after a great flood, it took about six months to build and was built by Brecon County Council at the time, now that's obviously Powys County Council, it's about a quarter of a mile long and runs along the River Tawe, which is fast-flowing."
The homeowners heard a 'loud bang' due to the landslide (Catrin Phillips)"There was evidence to show that the council had built the wall back in 1912, but they denied liability for the wall [previously] - so I made two appeals. I've also previously emailed NRW and they said it was the homeowners' responsibility... 10 years ago, a sinkhole opened in my garden after water from the river got under the wall and into my garden," he continued.
"Then last night, my partner heard a loud bang at about 4.30am - I sleep with ear plugs in so I didn't hear it - so she woke me up and saw our garden collapsed into the river, then we saw the damage properly this morning, I couldn't go into work today as I've had to try and sort it all out," Mr Davies added. "My house is alright at the moment, but the garage is based in the garden - it's really worrying [to think of what else could collapse]."
"There's probably four houses affected, one belongs to a family with a young baby, it's really worrying to think about," Mr Davies added. "I've lived here most of my life, this was my mother's house, my grandmother's house - it's not just the fact it's where we live but it's that sentimental aspect, this is my home. The thought of losing my home due to erosion...."
Mr Davies said that back in the 70s and 80s, some work was done on the wall and about 10 years ago, NRW spent around £30,000 on "soil samples" to see how to fix it. He also mentioned a study from six years ago about stopping sinkholes by the river, which would cost about £250,000, but no work was actually done, reports Wales Live.
A Powys County Council spokesperson commented: "Powys County Council was made aware of a wall collapse on a section of the River Tawe in Ystradgynlais this morning and local officers attended to assess the situation. The River Tawe is designated as a main river and therefore the lead authority in this instance would be Natural Resources Wales. We have passed details on to them and they should be contacted for further information."
Neil Stoddart from NRW said: "We are aware that a part of a retaining wall has collapsed into the river at Ystradgynlais and we sympathise with the effected landowner. Our engineers will visit the area to investigate and to assess any added flood risk caused by the incident."
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