A SMALL village in Pembrokeshire is said to have suffered the longest spell of consecutive days of rain in Britain for over 92 years.
The 700 residence living in Eglwyswrw have experienced 75 consecutive days of rainfall which is showing now signs of easing up.
Waterlogged residents say the epic rainfall this winter has been of “biblical proportions”.
Eglwyswrw is still short of the British record set between August 12 and November 8 1923 when Eallabus, Argyllshire, Scotland, had 89 successive days of rain fall. A met Office meteorologist said: “The figures for Whitechurch are almost record-breaking and they can’t be sniffed at. But that sequence could be broken next week because we are expecting some drier days.
Howard Lewis, 73, who runs Dyfedrainfall Shire Horse Farm in the village, said: “It’s making people miserable, all we are getting is grey skies and rain.”
“We’ve had some bad years but I can’t remember it raining every day for so long.”
“Every time you go out the front door it’s raining – it’s raining now.”
Locals said a rainbow could be seen from the village on Friday as a brief spell of sunshine gave a slight break from the rain, but still failed to leave the residents with a smile as the downpour continued through Friday night into Saturday.
Farmer and county councillor John Davies has brought his sheep in from the hillsides because they have developed wool rot because of the ceaseless rain.
John aged 52 said: “It’s poured down for almost 80 days and nights so by that reckoning we would need two arks.
“It is grinding people down both physically and psychologically.
“Our sheep are pretty hardy animals but even they are looking down in the mouth. Their fleeces are not getting the chance to dry out because of the endless rain.
“It’s not stopped since October – I’ve never seen the ground as saturated as it is now.”
Farmers have been forced to let their crops rot in the ground because fields are too waterlogged to save them, the only fortunate thing residents can be thankful for is that their village lies 423-feet above sea level and is never subject to overflow floods.
One local business is potentially profiting from the record rainfall by supplying water tanks to villagers, they claim homes in Eglwyswrw can use rainwater to meet more than 50% of their household requirements.
While the bad weather persists villagers don’t even have anywhere to drown their sorrows as both local pubs – The Serjeant’s Inn and The Butchers have both closed.
Friday recorded almost 10mm of rain fall in just 24 hours, with more overnight and stronger downpours on Saturday.
The Pembrokeshire coast line is the first point that rain bearing clouds often meet land which is a large reason why the county is often subject to heavy rainfall. The figures produced by the Whitechurch weather station show that this weather is comparable with the most extreme rainfall we’ve had so far this winter.
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