Four days on from an earthquake-like explosion in the normally quiet village of Gwaelod-y-Garth, a huge clean-up mission is underway to try and restore some normality to the lives of residents whose homes were left flooded and caked in mud.
Explosion and flooding
On Thursday afternoon, July 30, an explosion at the nearby Taff's Well Quarry, operated by the Breedon Group on the outskirts of Cardiff, sent water gushing through the village at Heol Berry and Heol y Nant on the same day a drought was declared across Wales.
As you walk down Heol Berry front gardens are full of lifetime's worth of possessions - fridges, children's toys, furniture, lamps, electronics and doors are piled up as teams work to clean up the damage.
Residents' experiences
Lava Khalid lives on Heol Berry with her two children. Inside the downstairs of her home you can see the remnants of brown mud and a line on the wall showing how high the water had been. For Lava the most upsetting thing has been the loss of her exotic birds who she said had been a part of their family and a source of comfort for her autistic son.
She said: "I had to put my birds in the bin which was very sad as they were part of our family. I couldn't even bury them in the ground because the ground was so muddy and wet. I had no idea something like this would happen otherwise I would never have left my birds in here. Now I'm just thinking about how hard it must've been for them at the end."
Since Thursday Lava and her kids have had to live out of the upstairs of their home, the only part which remains undamaged by the avalanche of mud and rocks. She explained that although they had been offered temporary accommodation on City Road it hadn't been suitable for her family due to the loud noise.
"It's been a massive shock, I'm still not myself and I'm now suffering with a very bad pain in my kidney and heart because of the anxiety," she said. "I'm still having to live here but I haven't heard anything. They apologised but I don't think they've done much yet. All I'm asking is that this never happens again."
Family's ordeal
Walking down Heol Berry, John Rolls is in and out of another property which has been impacted by the explosion. John's daughter Jenna had been away celebrating her tenth wedding anniversary where she got married in Italy with her husband and young children when her neighbour phoned to tell her that her house had been flooded.
"She rung me in Tesco and I said: 'Are you having a laugh, where was the flood around here.' She told me to go and have a look but I couldn't even get down here because the police had sealed the road off. They said there had been a controlled explosion and a large escape of water. We then came down on Friday and it was just carnage then, it was sludge all the way through. I rang Jen and told her it was pretty grim. Of course she's devastated because it's her home and she's got so many memories. She doesn't quite know what she's coming home to yet but she's been offered an Airbnb to stay at. For now I think she'll have to sleep upstairs here and her children will come and sleep at our house."
Despite the damage which has wrecked the downstairs of his daughter's home, John is grateful that none of his three grandchildren, aged three, five and seven, had been playing out in the garden at the time.
Witness account
Steven Mordecai knows the quarry and village better than many having first lived there in the fifties when his late father worked for the previous quarry owners, Steetley Dolomite. Steven has fond memories canoeing in the water at the quarry when he was younger but said he was always aware of what the quarry could do. He explained there had been blasts from the quarry for as long as he could remember but said there would always be a noise or siren beforehand.
Steven recalled the moment he first saw the mixture of mud and rocks pouring down the hill. He said: "We didn't have no noise, sirens going out, the man who usually carries out the tests wasn't there, he had disappeared. As I came out the back to see where my cats were and I came to the gate at the back of my garden. As I looked up I could see all this dirty, brown water coming down Pentyrch hill and the next thing I know it turned and headed in my direction. It was about five foot high and went through and over the top of the hedge. It then started to come down to two-three feet high. I could see all the sludge, the stones, the wood all coming down towards me."
Steven continued: "It was moving so fast that if I had moved to the house it would've caught up with me. I decided to grab hold of my gate and braced myself for the impact. As the impact came I was taken off my feet and I was floating on top of the water. Eventually all the rubbish started to pile up and ease and gently put me back on my feet."
Having experienced the extraordinary impact of the explosion Steven waded through his garden to find his back door had been completely ripped from its hinges. Him and his wife's home remains covered in thick mud, with brown hand marks on the wall where they had waded through the flood. Alongside the material possessions which were destroyed the couple also lost their 12 goldfish but Steven is amazed no-one was hurt.
He said: "This is a miracle because there were no children playing football, there were no families, no people walking their dogs but also no buses, cars or cyclists. In my eyes this was a miracle so I'm quite pleased about that. Usually there's people from the age of five upwards but there was no-one around or nothing."
Loss and calls for closure
Amanda Symonds also lives on Heol Berry and is devastated that her dog's ashes got caught up in the flood. She said that since the incident her stress levels have been "through the roof", and she's been unable to eat or sleep. "He was a loyal companion and I firmly believe he was nicer than a lot of human beings. I miss him dreadfully."
Amanda explained that her dog had been her companion when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. She continued: "Because I had him cremated on his own I had a lovely box with a gold plaque with his name written on it. A local gentleman also made me a lovely memory box with his name etched in. One of the worst things for me was seeing that floating through the living room. The ashes and the memory box were the first two things I grabbed and it ripped my heart out. It was just horrific."
Alongside this she said she'd had to throw away her full freezer of food, all the cupboard food and the entirety of a £90 food shop she had done just before the explosion. Amanda has lived in her house for decades having originally been her grandparent's home. Like Steven she can't remember a time when there weren't regular blasts from the quarry.
She now believes what happened last week demonstrates a need for the site to be shut down. She said: "Now this has happened that quarry needs to be completely closed down. They've been warned multiple times. This was a storm waiting to happen but we didn't realise it would be a flood. I thought our homes might come tumbling down because the blasts make your house shake so much. This shouldn't have happened."
Investigation and response
The Health and Safety Executive has confirmed it is investigating the incident along with South Wales Police.
WalesOnline has put a number of questions to Breedon. But the company only issued a statement saying: "We recognise how distressing Thursday’s incident has been for residents and the wider local community. Our priority remains supporting those affected. Over Friday and the weekend, senior management from Breedon visited residents to explain the support available and answer questions. The local community have been provided with direct contact details for our dedicated team on site who are available to help with repairs, support insurance claims and provide reassurance throughout the recovery process. We are working with the relevant authorities as part of their investigations, and it would be inappropriate to comment further."
