30/09/2026
Does anyone have any memories of the 1979 flood in Grangetown? If so we’d love to hear them!
Cardiff did you know...? Just days after Christmas in 1979, the River Taff burst its banks and caused one of the worst floods in modern Cardiff history. (Pictured Canton High Street).
After days of heavy rain across South Wales, the ground and river catchment were already saturated. Water poured down the Taff towards Cardiff and, on 27 December, the river rose above its banks.
Large parts of Canton, Riverside, Pontcanna and Grangetown were flooded, with water reaching several feet deep in some streets. Around 3,000 to 4,000 homes were severely affected, more than 1,000 people were evacuated, roads became impassable and boats were used to rescue residents.
Even Sophia Gardens was submerged. Chipperfield's Circus, which was in Cardiff at the time, had to evacuate its animals as the floodwater rose.
Two people were reported to have died in Cardiff during the flooding. Across the wider South Wales floods of December 1979, four deaths were recorded.
The disaster also exposed serious concerns about Cardiff's flood protection and warning arrangements. In the years that followed, major flood defence works were carried out along the River Taff, including strengthened and raised river defences and areas designed to accommodate excess floodwater.
Cardiff Council later stated that river and coastal flooding in the city had been largely controlled by flood defences introduced following the 1979 floods, together with the Cardiff Bay Barrage, which also protects the city from tidal influence.
The effectiveness of those defences was demonstrated more than 40 years later during Storm Dennis in 2020. The River Taff rose even higher than it had in 1979, but the flood defences helped prevent Cardiff from experiencing a repeat of the devastation seen that December.
