A FLOOD ALERT has been issued by Natural Resources Wales for the Pembrokeshire coastline, with flooding possible along stretches between St Dogmaels, near Cardigan, and Amroth.

Residents and businesses in coastal areas are being urged to remain vigilant and to prepare for the potential impacts of flooding as conditions develop.

Natural Resources Wales advises people in affected areas to follow any existing flood plans and to ensure they know where family members and pets are, with arrangements in place to move them to safety if required. Important and sentimental items, key documents and valuables should be placed somewhere secure and above potential flood levels.

People are also encouraged to make sure their mobile phones are fully charged, to familiarise themselves with how to turn off electricity, gas and water supplies, and to prepare a small emergency bag in case they need to leave their home. Essential items may include medication, a phone and charger, warm clothing, baby or pet supplies, sanitary items and insurance documents.

Where possible, cars, livestock and equipment should be moved away from areas at risk of flooding.

The public is strongly warned not to walk or drive through floodwater. As little as 30 centimetres (one foot) of moving water can sweep a car away, while 15 centimetres can be enough to knock a person off their feet.

Further information is available via the Natural Resources Wales flood warning service at
https://flood-warning.naturalresources.wales/Detail/102WABT02.
Floodline can also be contacted on 0345 988 1188 using quick dial number 503013.

Up-to-date river, rainfall and sea levels can be checked at https://naturalresources.wales/riverlevels.

Flood alerts and warnings can be managed by calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188. For the latest updates, Natural Resources Wales can also be followed on social media via @NatResWales.

A CALL for Pembrokeshire County Council to join other west Wales authorities in calling for its pension funds to be divested from companies profiting from genocide is to be heard by full council.

Recently, a call for Ceredigion County Council to stress it does not wish to be involved in companies connected with Israel during the ongoing Gaza crisis through its pension fund was backed by councillors.

A notice of motion before Ceredigion County Council’s October meeting, proposed by Cllr Endaf Edwards, said: “The ongoing and deeply concerning conflict in Gaza has led to significant loss of innocent life and widespread humanitarian suffering.

“Despite a temporary ceasefire in January 2025, hostilities have resumed, and conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate.”

Its calls included: a commitment to ethical governance and global justice; to express it does not wish to be associated with companies potentially complicit in war crimes or human rights violations; to write to the Welsh Pension Partnership, conveying these concerns and requesting a review of current investments; to request that the Dyfed Pension Fund and Welsh Pension Partnership strengthen their ethical investment policies; and to call on the Dyfed Pension Fund Committee and Welsh Pension Partnership to regularly review and publicly report on progress toward divestment from unethical holdings.

Following that, a petition was submitted on Pembrokeshire County Council’s own website, making a similar call.

The Pembrokeshire petition, started by Sarah Davies of Solidarity with Palestine Pembrokeshire, read: “We call upon Pembrokeshire County Council to pass a resolution calling on Dyfed Pension Fund to divest our pension money from companies profiting from genocide.

“As residents of Pembrokeshire, we are deeply concerned that the Dyfed Pension Fund (DPF) invests millions of pension fund money in companies complicit in Israel’s genocide, occupation, and apartheid against Palestinians. In addition, DPF uses the multinational asset management firm BlackRock to manage 40 per cent (£1.4 billion) of its total assets. BlackRock has been cited in a recent UN report as profiting from genocide.

“Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and other Welsh councils have already committed to divestment. We call upon Pembrokeshire County Council to use its influence to urge Dyfed Pension Fund to divest from these companies.”

The recently closed e-Petition attracted 560 signatures.

If a petition gets 500 signatures, the creator will have an opportunity to debate it at a future full council meeting.

CPRW, the Welsh Countryside Charity, has welcomed the publication of the Independent Advisory Group’s long-awaited report on the Future Electricity Grid for Wales, which was first promised by the Welsh Government for December 2024.

The charity said the report, led by Professor Hywel Thomas, was “well-balanced” and, at times, “candid”, arguing it moves the debate beyond technical engineering questions to include the social and environmental issues that often drive opposition to new electricity infrastructure.

CPRW said one of the report’s key messages is that future grid investment must be planned strategically and designed “holistically and collaboratively” by all network operators, rather than through piecemeal schemes. The charity noted that such joined-up planning is tied to existing licence conditions, and said regulator Ofgem should consider whether network operators have failed to meet those obligations.

The charity also welcomed the report’s recognition that major infrastructure decisions involve trade-offs between quantifiable factors such as installation and lifetime operating costs and less tangible impacts on landscapes, wildlife and communities.

CPRW said these “softer” impacts can and should be assessed more rigorously, pointing to HM Treasury’s established approaches for valuing non-market impacts where public resources are involved, including methods that can place a financial value on landscape effects.

However, CPRW said the report highlights what it described as a “shocking” lack of transparency in strategic decision-making and insufficient community involvement when options are being developed.

The charity also suggested there may be gaps in the analysis, including whether enough attention has been paid to upgrading existing distribution networks using higher-capacity conductors, the potential use of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) for long-distance transmission, or making the existing grid more “meshed” to provide greater flexibility.

CPRW said the report’s recommendations may have limited reach for some schemes where responsibility is retained elsewhere — such as certain transmission projects or cross-border distribution — but insisted it still adds weight to the wider debate.

Dr Jonathan F Dean said: “If these recommendations are followed, some of the more contentious projects will need to have a serious rethink, unless they are fudged as some form of strategic investment.”