Residents evacuated in Gwynned village over dam burst threat

600 people were evacuated from a Welsh village today over fears that a dam may burst following the weekend's torrential rainfall. The evacuation of Pennal in Gwynned came as hundreds of people in the Aberystwyth area returned to their homes to count the cost of Saturday’s “unprecedented” deluge which swept through villages and caravan parks causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage. Police said moving the residents of Pennal to a nearby leisure centre, was a precautionary measure. Supt Andy Jenks-Gilbert said water was flowing over the top of a reservoir and a crack had been discovered in the wall, causing a small amount of water to escape. "Should the wall be completely breached, the contents of the reservoir will go into the river which flows through the village of Pennal, which is around half a mile from the reservoir,” he said. Saturday’s flooding was described as an “unprecedented event” by the Environment Agency of Wales. Villages were flooded by 5ft (1.5m) of water with record high river levels in parts of Aberystwyth. Twice as much rain fell in 24 hours than normally falls the whole of June. More than 1,000 people had been evacuated and 150 residents and holiday makers in caravan parks had to be rescued – some by helicopter and lifeboat crews. A number of caravans and tents in the Aberystwyth Holiday Park remained cut off from land today, however. Andy Francis, of Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: "There's mass scale damage to caravan parks and to private dwellings throughout the area. "Lots of sewers may have been damaged, and indeed gas and water supplies damaged." A spokesman for the Met said there would be not let up in the rain until at least next week, with severe weather warnings issued today for the south of England and Scotland. Heavy downpours were expected tomorrow bringing with them a risk of flooding. The rain is expected to finally give way to sunshine towards the end of next week. The Environment Agency posted 18 flood alerts today, with four in Wales, ten in the Midlands and four in the north of England.