By Bryana Francis

Copyright walesonline

A wife has paid a heartfelt tribute to the group of rescuers who helped search for her husband after he went missing on a dog walk during Storm Bert last November. Brian Perry, 75, had gone out with his dog Nell but flood water began to rise quickly and his body was found the next day in the fields. BBC Wales’ SOS Extreme Rescues showed the multi-agency rescue mission involving police, ambulance, mountain rescue, fire crews and a coastguard helicopter where they searched for Brian for around four hours in increasingly difficult conditions. Cathy and Brian Perry had been visiting family in Llanrwst when the tragedy occurred. For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter here. Appearing on the show, which you can catch up with on iPlayer, Cathy recalled: “It had rained most of the day but at about four o’clock the wind had eased and the rain was stopping. Brian set off with Nell [their dog] for a walk just on the path he would normally do towards a footpath into Llanrwst. “About 15, 20 minutes later I thought, because the rain had stopped, I’d go out for my run. I got as far as just past the playground and noticed there was water on the path. I could see somebody come up the lane and he said: “Ten minutes ago that water wasn’t there.” “I phoned Brian, I told him about the flooding and he said that alright, he’d be there soon. He not gone as far as the river and he was surprised to hear there was flood water well away from the river. “I phoned probably about ten minutes later and he wasn’t answering the phone then.” Cathy told the BBC how minutes later she found their dog Nell but her husband was nowhere to be seen. She then called 999 and a coordinated a search began around his last known location which was along a mile-long track between Llanrwst and Trefriw. However, worsening conditions meant progress could only go so far without significant risk. The river levels were up three or four metres higher, the roads were obscured and gates were underwater. Teams searched the flooded area for over three hours without success and made the collective decision to call off the search for the night. Gwyn Jones, from North Wales Fire and Rescue explained: “The likelihood of anyone surviving in water beyond 90 minutes is quite slim.” “You know the impact you’re having on family and friends. That’s not lost on any of us.” Cathy was full of gratitude for the emergency services, she said: “They tried so hard, they tried until gone nine o’clock. I must’ve made the call to the emergency services just before five and they tried for a very long time into the night.” The next day emergency services returned to the area to keep searching and police divers found Brian’s body. Cathy emotionally explained: “He wasn’t by the river, he was in the fields and he didn’t think that it would come up that first, well I didn’t think, didn’t know that anything like that could happen so quickly. “He would never ever ever have gone out if he thought he was going to hurt himself and put other people at risk, that was not him at all. My family and I we would really like to thank everybody, we’re really grateful to the tremendous effort they made to find Brian and to give him back to us. “Diolch o galon to them all.” SOS: Extreme Rescues airs on BBC One Wales weekly, at 7pm, Wednesdays.