In June 2012, a month's worth of rain fell in just 24 hours over parts of mid Wales.
The deluge turned roads into lakes.
In the small village of Tal-y-bont, Ceredigion, 27 homes were flooded as the rivers Leri and Ceulan burst their banks.
After that devastating day, a group of villagers came together with an idea - they would plant trees, thousands of them, to try to reduce the risk of flooding in the future.
Trees and woods play a "vital" role in reducing flooding by slowing down the flow of rainwater, absorbing rainwater and reducing erosion, according to the Woodland Trust.
"We started off with the aim to plant 2,000 trees in the first winter," said Linda Denton, who coordinates the group of volunteers who call themselves the Tal-y-bont Treeplanters.
"And we actually managed about eight [thousand]. We've gradually increased it from there. So we've now done five winters and 50,000 trees."
Legitimate_Tipp on March 23rd, 2026 at 00:54 UTC »
this is the kind of stuff that actually gives me hope 😭 like instead of just talking about problems they really went out and did something with their own hands… i always think about how i say i care about the environment but would i actually put in that level of effort?? makes me feel like i should be doing more 💀
CDN-Social-Democrat on March 22nd, 2026 at 23:51 UTC »
I really hope we can get some public awareness/education on the climate crisis and overall environmental crisis.
We already have world record wildfires around the globe each year.
We already have ocean warming and ocean acidification getting so bad that coral bleaching has almost wiped it all out (Destroying the life of our oceans is very very bad).
We already are in the Holocene Extinction which is the sixth mass extinction in this whole planets history. This time humanity is the asteroid.
This is at 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. 3-4 Brings hell on earth type stuff like Wet-Bulb Temperatures in certain regions which will create mass geopolitical crisis points.
It also just frankly worsens the affordability of life crisis/quality of life crisis of the working class.
We don't need to run head first into another crisis point in this polycrisis world...
We need to start learning the benefit of being pro-active...
Upstairs_Drive_5602 on March 22nd, 2026 at 23:49 UTC »
When floods tore through Tal-y-bont in Wales in 2012, damaging homes and lives, something quietly extraordinary began. Instead of giving in to fear, neighbours came together, week after week, in wind, rain, and even snow, determined to protect the place they love. Led by Linda Denton, they’ve planted tens of thousands of trees across the hills, each one slowing floodwater, restoring the land, and capturing carbon from the atmosphere. With support from the Woodland Trust, they’ve also built gentle “leaky dams” to hold back water naturally.
It’s no longer just about floods. It’s about neighbours looking after one another, healing the landscape, and quietly doing their part in the fight against climate change.