'Carnage' unleashed on sleeping town when river hit 18-times normal level

It was 01:00 on a Saturday when a sleeping market town was hit by the worst floods in living memory.

Storm Claudia devastated the residents of Monmouth, south Wales, in November 2025, when the River Monnow reached 18-times its normal level.

Hundreds were evacuated from their homes, businesses lost millions, and some who had lived in the town for their entire lives lost everything.

One of those still reeling is Gillian Haycock, the manager of a retirement living complex, who will never forget how a 102-year old resident, still in their nightdress, had to be rescued by a raft boat.

Almost four months on, Gillian said some of the residents of Chippenham Court are "still homeless" because of the damage, with doubts as to whether they will ever return.

With all eyes on the River Wye, the main river that runs along the eastern edge of Monmouth, not many were expecting that its tributary the River Monnow would actually be the culprit of December's catastrophic flooding.

Storm Claudia left the local community "shell-shocked" at the extent of the damage, in spite of the river flood defences in place.

Gillian Haycock said it was "carnage" as she tried to keep her residents safe.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales' After the Cameras podcast, she said: "It was like a sinking ship, and it still looks like that now.

"I would never believe that water could do that much damage, that it could take a kitchen off its wall.

"The severity of that water was so strong that day, and it kept flowing."

Some of the building's residents are "still homeless", as well as Haycock's 87- year-old father-in-law, who has terminal cancer.

Haycock said: "Even now, 11-12 weeks later, they're all in not the best place.

"Mentally, they're distraught and I don't know whether some will even come back."

Costing more than £750,000 to repair the damage, Haycock said it was "pretty scary" to think that she may have to close Chippenham Court for good if she cannot afford to renew the insurance at the end of March.

Andrea Shull and her husband had only opened their restaurant eight days before the floods, and were still in the building when the street outside turned into a "pouring river" in the early hours of the morning.

"Because there was a lot of us still there, we started to lift furniture, fridges up into the kitchen area, thinking about the electricals," Shull said.

"Then before we knew it, it just all came through like a river and we were fighting a losing battle."

"Very naively", said Shull, she had not read her insurance policy's small print, meaning that she would get nothing for what was lost or to help with re-opening the restaurant.

Shull said she estimated that she had lost £250,000 in wages, destroyed food and equipment, adding that she had emptied her savings, cashed in her pension and used multiple credit cards to cover costs.

The community also rallied to help, and Bar 125 was back on its feet 10 days later.

"You kind of like feel that you're in somebody else's nightmare, that it's not really happening to you."

Head of Flood and Incident Risk Management at Natural Resources Wales, Jeremy Parr, said that the river's levels had reached 18 times their normal capacity, the equivalent weight of 371 cars.

Parr said: "In Monmouth, it was unexpected because it hasn't happened for such a long time.

"I think what it shows is that a lot of places are, like Monmouth, next to rivers with defences - those defences aren't a guarantee that there will never be any flooding.

"I've spoken to people who are scared every time it rains because of their memory of what happened last time."

One in seven homes in Wales are at risk of flooding, a figure that Natural Resources Wales estimates will increase by 28% over the next century.

Monmouthshire County Council has launched an investigation into the causes and full impact of the flood, with a report expected this summer.

But for residents like Shull, the damage is already done.

Speaking earlier this month, she said: "Yesterday, we didn't even take enough money to cover our staff wages.

"And that's because there's still shops that are not open, parking charges are back in place, and it's what happened in November, [everyone thinks] let's move on.

"You can imagine every time it rains, you just turn that key in the door and just hope that nothing's gone in, but it is one of those uncontrollable things."