My heart goes out to all those affected by the flooding at the weekend. Storm Bert has left its devastating mark across both towns and countryside, even now as water recedes.

I hope that most of our residents could stay warm and safe indoors, but that was certainly not the case for all as homes were deluged, roads closed, farm animals stranded and transport widely disrupted.

Once again, I was impressed by the way that our emergency services coped, and how communities, families and neighbours pulled together with consideration and support.

Our own emergency teams were in action, dealing with issues right across the county as the rivers and streams reached breaking point in so many areas, and drains, affected by autumn leaves, failed to cope.

This of course comes hard on the heels of the devastating fire in Abergavenny which was shock to us all and has left a sad scar in the town centre which will be there for some time.

But, like the floods this weekend, I am also reassured by how the blaze brought out the best in so many people. During that blaze, local councillor Laura Wright, was promptly on the scene and is to be highly praised for the help she gave. So too was your MP, Catherine Fookes. She and I visited the fire site as soon as it was possible to do so, and I was out again this past weekend to see where I could help and what resources your council could provide.

As in the blaze, we will give proper consideration to the wider impacts of such emergencies. Road, property and environmental teams were involved in the fire as well as the flooding and are aware of the impact of the damage as events move from the emergency response to the recovery phase.

Even without the add-on weather effects of global warming, we certainly need our well-trained teams, who never fail to impress me with the way in which we can lend a hand when needed. They have certainly been busy this month and like all the others involved, get my thanks.