21/12/2015 BBC Wales Today

Our top stories: Welsh steelmaking, and the thousands of jobs

which depend upon it, is fighting for its very survival -

More wet and windy weather to come, now forecasters warn of a further

The steel industry in Wales is fighting for survival.

That's the warning tonight from the industry's trade unions.

It comes on the day MPs said the UK Government had failed to react

quickly enough to the crisis in the industry.

Wales' biggest steel employer, Tata, which employs 6,000 people here,

Our Economics Correspondent Sarah Dickins has spent the day

Steel dominates the skyline in Port Talbot, as it does

But workers know it is once again battling a number

Now it is believed that Port Talbot alone is losing around

Steel in the UK has struggled against higher energy costs

Cheaper imports of steel from China and a high pound which makes UK

steel expensive to export is dealing a heavy blow.

My worry is, going forward, is we are in survival mode.

I want to see iron and steelmaking continuing in the UK and I am sure

that the majority of people in the UK would want to see that.

Around 6000 people work for Tata in Wales.

800 work at Shotton, where they make

There are 700 each in Llanwern and Trostre in Llanelli,

and another 300 work at the Orb electrical steel plant in Newport.

Tata pays ?200 million per year in salary in Wales alone,

even before we look at allied industries.

Since the recession of 2008, there's been a lot of talk

from politicians about rebalancing UK economy, not leaving us

as dependent on the financial sector as we were.

In other words, giving more power to people like this who make

the steel that goes into so many other goods.

Talk to people in this business, though and they say they have

For ten years, they have been wanting help to reduce the cost

Now, they've had a little bit in the last few months,

Just as the real pain from cheap Chinese imports is really hitting.

The Chinese economy is expected to further weaken next year.

Any let-up in Chinese imports of steel looks unlikely.

The UK government has acted this year to lessen the cost of energy.

Today's report said it didn't act quickly enough or heed warnings

about cheaper imports pushing out business for steel here.

The UK Government said it is a limited in what it can do.

There has been some mythology that somehow or other countries

We have examined in real detail and got into it.

We have not breached the state aid rules and we understand

It is important we do the right thing by British Steel,

Tata has shown its commitment to the Welsh steel industry

by staying here, even when i's losing many millions.

industry it says today's report underlines the need for urgent

action to support the steel industry to help it to survive.

A man from Pembroke Dock who raped two young girls and sexually

assaulted three others has been jailed for 21 years.

Stephen Bladen, who was classed as dangerous by the Judge

at Swansea Crown Court, was convicted of a total

He's been told he will serve a minimum of 14 years in prison.

Emergency services are continuing to search for a 21-year-old man

who went missing after a night out in Swansea.

Jordan Miers who's from the city, hasn't been seen since

Rescuers have been searching a stretch of the River Tawe

A skip hire operator from Llanelli has been sentenced for illegally

The judge at Swansea Crown Court told the director of Sospan Skips,

Nigel Charles, that the company had shown wholesale ignorance

towards Environmental legislation and it needed to change its ways.

The court heard that a Natural Resources Wales

investigation also found asbestos among the waste disposed

of at Caemawr Farm in the Furnace area of Llanelli.

Gay men under the age of 45 are to be offered a new jab

to protect them against the HPV virus.

Its the same vaccination that is given to school girls

to protect them against the virus which causes cervical,

Gay men are particularly vulnerable because their male partners

They have been popping up in many areas after flooding in Wales.

Not what anyone would have wanted to be doing in the week before

Christmas, but they can mock and scrub as much

Christmas, but they can mop and scrub as much

as they like at the Union in Tremadog, they won't be opening

This is the main bar of the Union in Tremadog.

The flood happened after midnight on Saturday and the pub was in full

swing here, with a disco and Christmas party going on.

The water came in through the back door, then the front door.

You can see that the carpet is still absolutely sodden.

Let me take you through to the pub's restaurant.

As you can see, chairs on tables in here as well.

They have made an attempt at clearing it up but they say

there is absolutely no way at all they will open this side

of Christmas and probably not this side of the New Year either.

All because of a blocked culvert on the hillside.

These pictures were taken in the pub during the flood.

There is water and mud right through.

The fire brigade had to pump the building out.

I thought it wouldn't come in the back.

I hadn't realised it was coming in the back of the kitchen.

Coming through the kitchen, through the suite room,

Into the dining room and then just started coming up and up.

It had come down the road from the culvert and it just started

You've had all sorts of support from your friends and neighbours.

They all said to me, "If there is anything I can do

It wasn't just this pub that was affected.

The flood hit the whole of this side of Tremadog Square.

Three homes on either side of the pub and then round the corner

in Dublin Street, homes were flooded there as well.

At the other end of Wales, more flooding.

A bridge across the river is completely underwater.

Today, the bridge can be seen again with floodwaters beginning

Forecasters warned that there may be more rain to come.

They've been mopping up in parts of Wales after heavy rain

More now on that rain, with a warning of more wet and windy

weather to come, Derek's got tonight's forecast.

Hello. The weather is not very system at the moment. Changeable

sums it up over the next few days. More wet and windy weather at pipes.

Sunshine and Chile and dry by the time we get to Christmas. More rain

on the way. It will turn light and more patchy later in the night with

temperatures rising. Tomorrow it is the winter solstice the shortest day

of the year. I cannot promise you much sunshine. They windy day in

prospect. Dry for a time in parts of the South and south-west, otherwise

more rain. Warning in force for mid and North and West Wales. The rate

is heaviest on the high ground. Across the West of the UK it will be

windy. Strong to gale force winds. More rain spreads eastwards during

the the day. Heavy rain on the hills in the north and west. Dry and

brighter spells across England and very mild. Dry and brighter across

Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Wales tour afternoon there is more

wet weather with heavy rain and gusty wind. It should turn dry from

the West as we go through the afternoon. Temperatures are well

above-average. 15 or 16 in Wrexham. Tomorrow evening the rain will

clear. A mixture of showers. Turning a little colder. Thursday promises

to be a better day with a few showers about and otherwise dry and

brighter with sunshine. Still quite breezy. More rain to come on

Christmas Eve. The umbrella will come in handy if you are popping up

on last-minute shopping. Heavy showers in the afternoon. Chile by

Christmas Day and dry start but more wind and rain on the way. It turns

milder again on on Boxing Day. Good night.