Three weeks after the Rhondda Fach river overflowed and water coursed into 14 homes around the Avon Terrace Bridge in the village of Ynyshir, the cleanup remains in its early stages.

Thick black mud still coats some floors, and heaters and dehumidifiers hum as the effort to dry out walls and window frames continues. Residents sort through sodden possessions, saving what they can and piling the rest outside ready to be carted away to landfill.

“It’s very, very tough,” said Russell Cameron, who built his bungalow on the banks of the river 30 years ago and now finds himself homeless. “I’ve been told I’ll be out for six to nine months.”

The moment when the river overflowed in the early hours of 16 February was terrifying. “The river hasn’t flooded for a century or more,” said Cameron. “We think it happened because timber and other debris hadn’t been cleared from the river. It formed a dam under the bridge and the water was forced out.”

Russell Cameron outside his bungalow. Photograph: Dimitris Legakis/The Guardian

As they waited for help, the residents of Ynyshir, which lies four miles north-west of Pontypridd, took action. One neighbour waded through the water with an angle grinder and cut away railings jammed with rubbish to create a gap that allowed the water to flow back into the river.

The next day, Cameron and a neighbour scrambled their way into the river with a saw and chains to clear wood they believed could lead to further flooding. “We had to risk our lives to sort it out. But it had to be done.”

Cameron showed the Guardian around his wrecked bungalow, then went off to visit Katie Whelan, a young mother whose end-of-terrace house was flooded.

She and husband Andrew, who waded into the water with his angle grinder, have no insurance to make good the damage. “It’s been a huge shock,” she said. “I feel I could have lost my husband that night. It’s a nightmare and every time it rains now, I don’t feel right. I struggle to sleep.”

Cameron tried to reassure his neighbour. “It will get better Katy,” he told her. “You will go to sleep at night again like everyone else in this area.”

It may not all be negative. Adversity has brought the villagers closer together. “We feel forgotten by some of the authorities, but we haven’t forgotten each other,” said Cameron.

More than 1,000 homes were flooded in Wales in February. The Welsh government announced an immediate £10m emergency fund to help people and businesses affected by the storms, and is waiting for a funding boost from Westminster.

Members of the Welsh assembly discussed the situation in Ynyshir and other areas, flagging up the concerns of the Royal Meteorological Society that rainfall in places such as the South Wales valleys could increase by 50% over the next 10 years.

Leanne Wood, the former Plaid Cymru leader and Welsh assembly member for Rhondda, said the area’s famed community spirit came to the fore during the crisis.

“Amid the heartbreak, we have seen the best of the Rhondda,” she said. “There have been incredible acts of kindness, generosity and humanity to help those in need. People have pulled together.”

She also called on this spirit to be harnessed. “If the authorities are unable to carry out all the work necessary then they should consider tapping into the goodwill of the people in a more formal and organised way.”

The cleanup also continues down the valley in Pontypridd, where the shops on Taff Street were inundated.

At Hope Rescue, a charity shop that raises money for abandoned dogs, the retail manager, Karen Perry, and her colleagues were still working to rescue stock. “It may be three months before the shop is running again,” she said.

Karen Perry moves boxes of stock out of her charity shop in Taff Street, Pontypridd. Photograph: Dimitris Legakis/The Guardian

The charity has organised an auction to keep funds coming in and gifts ranging from handmade doggy jumpers to a signed memorabilia from the Welsh band Stereophonics have been donated.

Music shows were also held over the weekend to raise money. “Valley Aid” on Friday and Saturday featured artists including James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers, Charlotte Church and leading Welsh language performers.

The Welsh actor Michael Sheen has headed another fundraising effort that has raised more than £80,000.

At Clwb Y Bont on Taff Street, a cherished community venue, the water flooded the main rooms to the window sills. A crowdfunding appeal was launched and by 6 March it was 96% of its way to raising £10,000. More than 300 people have donated. “It does give us hope. We’ll be back,” said treasurer Graham Davies.

On a hill above Pontypridd, the sandbags and floodgates are still in place in Wordsworth Gardens. Though it is high above the river valley, water poured out of a culvert into homes there.

Aid is arriving there too. Council workers are delivering parcels of tinned food, sugar, jam, juice and sauces that people have donated.

“We’re muddling along,” said Joanne Marden, 40, whose four children have moved out and are living with a relative. Loads is being done to help us.”

Activists from YesCymru, which campaigns for Welsh independence, have been in Rhondda helping. Its chair, Siôn Jobbins, said the response to the floods showed the best of Wales.

“It showed the resilience of communities up and down Wales as people helped each other. Wales was battered, but we stood together.”