Rescue Mission After Major Flooding In Wales

More than 100 people have been rescued from four caravan sites after serious flooding around Aberystwyth in West Wales, according to the coastguard.

At least nine people have been winched to safety and many others rescued after a torrent of rain overnight.

Aberystwyth and Borth Coastguard rescue teams were called out along with the Borth RNLI inshore lifeboat.

A Royal Air Force Sea King helicopter has also been deployed.

Fire crews rescued 35 people from the Riverside Caravan Park in Llandre, using inshore life boats.

Another 11 people were helped at the nearby Millhouse Caravan Park.

Rescues have also taken place at the Sea Rivers and Glanlerry caravan parks near Borth.

In the village of Talybont, 25 properties were evacuated and residents are sheltering at a local community centre and pub.

Around 5ft of water is flowing through the main street there.

Jason Hughes, who lives nearby, said he was worried about the high tide, which was due at around midday.

He told Sky News: "It could make it worse. It's still raining quite hard. The lower part of my village is completely closed off, people are all in their top bedrooms."

Pat Edwards, 56, whose partner runs Riverside Caravan Park, said she had not seen flooding like it in 50 years.

She added that three groups of guests currently staying at the site had decided to stick the weather out.

"The helicopter has come over and offered to rescue us," she said.

"At the moment, we've got three families here - one is staying in their caravan and two couples are upstairs with us.

"We've got an escape route planned if necessary, if we need to we can climb up the bank and get picked up by the helicopter."

She said the downstairs of her house was flooded with about eight inches of water but it was now going down.

Ms Edwards added: "We got a lot of our stuff out of the way, but things like the sofa are ruined."

George Crumpler, Cambrian coastguard sector manager said: "We responded to the request for assistance and are evacuating those at risk with the help of the other emergency services."

A spokesman from the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said there is a large amount of water with a heavy current.

He added: "Numerous people are surrounded by flood water and are requiring rescue by fire service boats, inshore life boat teams and RAF helicopters."

In the 24 hours up to 7am this morning, Trawscoed near Aberystwyth recorded 81mm of rainfall - the monthly average for the area is 78.5mm.

The rain over West Wales was expected to stop in the next few hours.

©SkyNews