AN 82-year-old Wrexham man had to be rescued from his flooded property by family members.
Harry Smith's property in Trevalyn, near Rossett, was filling with water on Sunday morning after the nearby River Alyn burst its banks during Friday's Storm Babet.
"It was terrible," the retired train driver said. "It's so upsetting to see your house being ruined and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
"I managed to move some things upstairs but the downstairs of the property is ruined."
Harry Smith's house was badly flooded. (Image: User generated content)
On Sunday morning, Harry rang his niece, Sue Wilson, asking if she could come and rescue him.
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She said: "He was crying and clearly in great distress. My partner and I jumped in our 4x4 but we couldn't get all the way to his house. The water was up to the bonnet of the 4x4.
"My partner, Tony, had to piggy-back him through the water back to our car. We're just relieved he's ok but no one, especially at that age, should have to go through something like that."
Almere Ferry Road, where Mr Smith lives, did have flood barriers installed in 2006 after suffering heavy flooding two years before. However, Mr Smith said no one from Natural Resources Wales attended to pump the water away.
"It's the first time we've been flooded since the flood defences were installed," Mr Smith said.
"The only time anyone from NRW was there was on Saturday, and they were just taking photos of the river. I couldn't believe it. It could have all been prevented."
Iwan Williams, operations manager for NRW, said: “The extreme weather brought on by Storm Babet has affected a number of communities over the weekend leading to severe flooding in places like Trevalyn.
“A severe flood warning was put in place in Llandrinio, Powys along with additional flood warnings and alerts, demonstrating the huge amount of rainfall that fell in North and Mid Wales over a relatively small amount of time.
“Our staff have been working extended shifts to minimise the effects of the storm where possible but more rain fell more quickly in parts of Wales than the forecast had suggested – and before we could install temporary flood defences."
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