Aber Falls, scene of two of the rescues. Photo: David Leach CC-BY-SA-2.0

Rescuers had to battle flooded tunnels and gridlocked roads to reach an injured walker in Snowdonia.

Members of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation were called out to help a woman with a broken ankle on Thursday as floods closed the area’s two main roads with thousands of vehicles blocking the route to the hill on which the walker was stranded.

Two women from the Llandudno and Colwyn Bay area went for a walk around Aber Falls and the North Wales Path but a slip led to one of the walkers fracturing her ankle.

Chris Lloyd of the Ogwen Valley MRO said heavy rain and strong winds were forecast for the area on Thursday morning. “And we got what was forecast,” he added. “Heavy flooding with the A55 Conwy tunnel flooded and closed, heavy floods and mud closing the A55 in another two locations towards Bangor.

“There were floods in the Conwy valley and the A5 road through the mountains. Result: gridlock!

“Meanwhile, the two women went for an afternoon walk from Aber Falls around and along the North Wales Path, heading west.

“Unfortunately, one slipped and broke her ankle. She made a valiant attempt to reach the safety of their car, but found the steep descent into the village impossible.

“The team was called at about 3.15pm. The problem was that the A55 was blocked by floods, silt and of course thousands of vehicles.

“The weather was poor – even worse on Anglesey where RAF 22 Squadron is based. Team members managed to get to Aber, using local knowledge of back roads. Fortunately, so did 22 Squadron’s Sea King helicopter.

“The casualty was located and winched to safety and delivered to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor. Meanwhile, her colleague was escorted down the steep path to her car by a couple of team members by about 5pm.”

The following day saw a similar forecast, with heavy rain and strong winds.

The team was called out to one of its regular rescue sites, the North Ridge of Tryfan, after a young couple made the ascent of the mountain but made a navigational error while coming down.

Mr Lloyd said: “On their descent back to the Ogwen Valley, they strayed onto the ‘no-go’ area of the West Face.

“The female lost confidence so her partner made the 999 call at about 2pm. Using Sarloc [the software that uses smartphone technology to send a fix to rescuers], the team leader could easily identify their location.

“Four team members were deployed up the North Ridge whilst one team member guided them from the comfort of a team vehicle parked further down the valley.

“The four were able to walk into the casualties, and escort them back to the footpath and safe descent. The two enjoyed hot tea and biscuits at Oggi Base before being returned to their car.

“This was just a case of lack of local knowledge on this tricky descent and the option to call 999 rather than scramble back up to safer ground. Had they been unable to get a telephone signal, I am sure that they would have taken the latter.”

The bad weather continued into yesterday, with heavy rain later in the day.

The third callout in three days for the Ogwen Valley team was to a group of three from Kidderminster who set off to complete their ticklist of Welsh 3,000-footers.

A father, his 33-year-old daughter and her boyfriend set off from the Ogwen Valley at 8.30am heading north over the Carneddau towards Abergwyngregyn.

Mr Lloyd said: “The party of three successfully traversed the Carneddau and descended towards Aber Falls.

“The daughter was suffering from an old knee injury which caused pain on descent. In darkness and rain, they came to the slippery step on the path next to the top of the falls.

“They felt that due to all the recent poor weather, news reports of saturated ground and landslips, that this part of the path had been washed away. The close proximity of the cascading Aber Falls in spate made dramatic sound effects.

“The party decided to avoid this slippery step by retracing their steps and climb the lower slopes of Llwytmor Bach in order to descend to the forestry tracks.

“More steep ground aggravated the knee, so it was decided to call 999 at about 9.15pm.”

He said the team used a ‘pincer movement’ by two parties to find the trio.

“They were assisted to the path and across the slippery step, down to the awaiting vehicles at the bottom of the falls,” Mr Lloyd added. “They were returned to an anxious mum who was waiting down in Aber village, at about 1.15am, a bit damp, relieved and satisfied that they had now completed all of the Welsh 3000s.”

The team has dealt with 125 incidents so far this year.