MOTORISTS in Pembrokeshire are again being urged to be safe after more people are ignoring road closed signs due to flooding.

This afternoon – Thursday, January 4 - Dyfed-Powys Police issued a warning to motorists after receiving a number of complaints of people driving past road closed signs, putting themselves in danger of being stranded or getting into difficulty.

After the significantly heavy rain over the new year period and Storm Henk battering the county, a number of roads were hit with standing water and flooding, which led to a number of road closures.

One of the roads that has been closed is the A4139 by Kiln Park in Tenby.

The force has said that motorists have been driving along grass verges, pavements and driving into the heavily flooded area to continue along the road rather than following the diversions.

This is leading to a number of call outs to the emergency services.

The force has urged people to abide by the road closures and to use the diversions.

The full statement from Dyfed-Powys Police said: “We have received a number of complaints regarding motorists contravening the road closures along the A4139 by Kiln Park, which were implemented for public safety following the unprecedented, localised flooding in the area.

“Motorists have been driving along grass verges, pavements & driving into the heavily flooded area. This necessitates emergency service call outs, using valuable, limited resources which are needed elsewhere. Please abide by the road closures & use the diversions put in place.”

A flood warning and flood alert were put in place on the weekend for Tenby’s River Ritec. On January 2, Pembrokeshire County Council had put traffic lights in place on the A4139 near Kiln Park Service Station to manage traffic to stop any vehicles going through the flooded half of the road, however, the flood water had risen and later that afternoon, the road was closed completely. This still remains the case now two days later as it is still not safe to drive through.

The diversion in place is via Devonshire Drive and the Ridgeway.

A severe flood warning is still in place for the River Ritec according to Natural Resources Wales, however, this has not been updated since January 3. The flood warning says that there is the risk of severe disruption to the community, with significant risk to life.

NRW urges the public to comply with any directions from the emergency services and to be aware that some roads in the area may already be closed or affected by floodwater as well as to be cautious as there have been reports of raw sewage in the floodwater.

NRW also stated that although the weather is set to improve, it will take several days to drain due to the ‘saturated catchment of the River Retec’ so further disruption is to be expected.