Residents of a Welsh street were left 'coughing and sneezing' as their homes and cars were covered in a 'nuclear dust', which 'looked like snow.
Those who live on Berw Road in Pontypridd said the issue began on Sunday, September 3 after the road was resurfaced by council contractors.
The contractors were initially going to come back to finish the road on September 14, but after residents complained they completed it on September 6 instead.
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However, the locals still weren't happy as 'significant dust' remained on the street days later on Friday, with some claiming that they were unable to breathe properly.
Richard Beer, who lives on Berw Road, told Wales Online: "They put chippings down and left it without watering it down. Because there are trees and houses on each side it looked like snow for a few days and when you walked out of your house it covered you and you looked like someone had thrown a bucket of dust over you."
He added: "We couldn't breathe properly – I started coughing and had a sneezing fit, it was like having a cold or a bad chest infection."
Another resident, Clive Hybart said: "It started off with the ripping up the surface of the road, which resulted in vibrations and a lot of noise. Then they got around to resurfacing, and what they applied to it I don’t know, but it generated a mass of dust.
"Instead of dampening it, they went over it in a [truck] so it went back into the air, it was like a nuclear winter and you couldn’t see a few yards in front of the vehicle.
"My car was covered in about an eighth of an inch of dust and I had no option to have it cleaned. When you went outside in it, it left a metallic taste in your mouth and nose."
The 69-year-old said he knew that a number of his neighbours were "really concerned" about the dust, with some leaving signs outside their properties expressing how they felt.
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He added: "It was obviously concerning to think you were ingesting it when you went outside – even while driving because [the car] doesn't filter it out."
A spokesperson for Rhondda Cynon Taf Council said: “The surfacing works at Berw Road have used a treatment process that is widely used across Wales.
"It includes an initial laying process followed a few days later by applying a locking treatment. During the interim period, there can be some loose stone and dust present. This was managed by our contractor, which carried out road sweeping and placed signs for reduced vehicle speeds.
"We’d like to thank residents for their patience throughout, and to reassure them that any surface dust produced by the process does not present any risk of harm.”
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