Wales flooding: Historic hotel suffers after heavy rain

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Media captionNatural Resources Wales has issued half a dozen flood alerts in north Wales on Saturday

An historic hotel is counting the cost after being hit by floods as warnings have been issued in Wales.

The Ty'n y Cornel Hotel, by Tal-y-llyn lake in Gwynedd, has suffered regular flooding in recent years.

A hotel spokesman said: "The flood water is up to my knees in the road. It's flooded all the garages but not the main building."

The gardens of Gwydir Castle in Conwy were also hit as Natural Resources Wales issued half a dozen flood alerts.

The hotel building dates back to the 1800s and is thought to have offered lodgings since the early 1900s.

"The lake does flood a few times but we didn't expect it today," the spokesman said.

"It's the people who sometimes try to drive through that's the problem and the aftermath of the drivers going through."

He claimed lorries were the worst, saying: "They just think it's fine to drive through, the bow wave goes half way up the building."

Image copyright Traffic Wales
Image caption Traffic lights are in operation due to flooding on the A487 at Maentwrog

At Gwydir Castle, in Conwy, the gardens were flooded.

It was also hit in February and in 2018 and 2019.

A 400m sandbag wall has been constructed in an effort to protect the building.

But water still affected the gardens last night and there are "feet of water" in the cellars.

Co-owner Judy Corbett said they looked "horrific".

She said the water "came from nowhere".

"It's very disheartening," she said

"This shouldn't be happening in July. It's very unusual. I can't think of when we last had a flood in July."

She questioned Natural Resources Wales handling of floods.

"What on earth are Natural Resources Wales doing?" she said.

"I don't buy that it's just climate change. We need a coherent water management policy.

"Water is drained from further up the catchment area and we on the valley floor are paying for it."

"It's completely heart-breaking for us."

Natural Resources Wales has been asked to comment. It has previously said it could not "prioritise this property above other communities".

In Llanrwst, Conwy, North Wales Police warned of flooding on Friday night.

Llanrwst councillor Aaron Wynne said on Twitter: "After just a day of rain, Llanrwst is on a flood alert.

"This should not be happening after only one day of 'typical Welsh weather'.

"This is extremely frustrating."

Mr Wynne said he would call a meeting with Natural Resources Wales and other organisations "to hear their plans to resolve this long-standing issue".

"Don't forget about Llanrwst again," he said.

"This needs fixing."

Elsewhere, fire crews pumped water from two properties after being called to Pant Llwyd, Llan Ffestiniog, at 10:35 BST.

At Dolgellau, Gwynedd, they removed water from a house at Tan-y-Bwlch at 08:10 BST.