It was flooding there 40 years ago when we lived a couple of miles from it.
Various attempts have been made to cure it, but the local geology seems to defeat all attempts.
Indeed, the most recent attempt I recall was to build a new lagoon to hold the flood water they pump out so it can be dispersed. Unfortunately, when you get day after day (week after week) of rain, it cannot cope.
[Slight digression. According to a local history book, the old GWR didn't really want to build the Badminton cut-off (i.e. the link from Wootton Bassett Jn to Stoke Gifford Jn via Chipping Sodbury, so that trains for south Wales didn't need to go MLN via Box). There's a story that after getting the Act of Parliament to enable it, they realised the cost was more than originally expected due to geology, so delayed building it for years..... until the original Vale of Glamorgan Railway joined forces with the Barry railway to propose a direct route to London via a Severn bridge...... the deal for withdrawing the proposal being that GWR finally build the Badminton Cutoff and allow access. This was in the days when Barry Docks was one of the main coal exporting ports in the world, so seems plausible.]
Flooding at Yorton, Gobowen & Beeston Castle has meant that TfW has suspended services from Manchester - Shrewsbury, Chester - Shrewsbury & Crewe - Chester for the rest of the day now.
Heart of Wales closed due to flooding (after only reopening today, due to flooding)
All lines closed west of Carmarthen on the branches too
It was very wet here in south Wales overnight, and the rain was falling onto already saturated ground. The Valleys have also been affected today, with flooding between Pontypridd and Merthyr/Aberdare (the Treherbert line is of course still under blockade for upgrade). Penarth-Rhymney was running to timetable, with trains running a shuttle pattern Cardiff-Rhoose (vice Bridgend) and out to Barry Island. The train planners basically rejigged the whole timetable. [This used to be done as a matter of course in the past when flooding closed the Merthyr and Aberdare lines in the "usual places" so I guess they have some pre-done schedules they can use].
It's times like this that any cut backs in Off Track a few years ago will be felt. Not just falling trees, but at this time of year, drainage ditches need constant clearing, (yesterday I noticed a lot of huge puddles where road drains had blocked- it's not just the railway). Traffic Wales also suggests that the A483 is closed due to flooding in the "usual place" at Builth Wells, and I'm quite surprised that the A483 at Pool Quay isn't also under water the way it was in 2000.
These things go in phases- typically in line with ENSO (En Nino Southern Oscillation). I wish people would stop falling back on the too-convenient excuse of climate change, and understand the consequences of a beancounter-led approach to maintenance. It's too easy to say "climate change" and not face the responsibility for making the wrong call by saving a few quid from cutting staff. There's a LOT that can be done to cope with any changing climatic conditions, but that needs a practical approach starting with enough people to maintain ALL of the infrastructure properly- including the "Cinderella" elements called Drains, Vegetation and suchlike.
TPO