Watercourse levels in Freuchie have risen substantially today due to the continued moderate rainfall and heavily saturated ground.
Image capture: Freuchie Mill culvert at 3:10pm
Residents should be prepared with their flood defences if the rain continues to fall at the same rate for the remainder of today.
UPDATE:
The rain let up before flooding became an issue.
At the November 2010 Enterprise, Environment & Transportation Committee meeting of Fife Council, a report on the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 and its implications for Fife Council was submitted by the Head of Transportation Services for consideration by councillors. FFAG has a previously blog post about this meeting.
John A Thomson, Chairman of FFAG, attended this meeting and came away with the concern that some councillors didn’t fully appreciate the legal duty being placed onto the council nor the financial and resourcing requirements.
One of our biggest fear was and still is the lack of ring fencing of the additional funds being released from the Scottish Government to assist with the transitional arrangements from the old 1961 Act to the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. Councillors mustn’t underestimate the amount of money it is going to take nor the scale of the task to comply with the new legislation.
The minutes of this meeting state:
366. FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 2009
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Transportation Services advising on the phased implementation of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 and the important implications for Fife Council arising from the implementation of the Act.
DecisionThe Committee agreed:-
- that further reports would be submitted to the Environment Enterprise and Transportation Committee following the introduction of legislation on Flood Risk Management
- to note the financial and resource implications for Fife Council arising from the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009; and
- to note the need to assist SEPA to prepare for local Flood Risk Management Plans and to comply with the new statutory duties.
It is welcome to see the committee has placed the above statement into the public domain; words that go some way to alleviate the concerns of FFAG. However we make this plea to the councillors; please don’t eye up the transitional funding for other projects until the FRM Act is fully implemented.
FFAG will continue to lobby our representatives and monitor progress as Fife Council works to fully implements the FRM Act.
Technorati Tags: Fife, Fife Council, flood, Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, Scottish Government, SEPA
Freuchie Community Council is now on Facebook. This is an exciting development for the community to keep abreast of the activities of our community council and a new mechanism for our community councillors to share with the community.
Here’s the link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Freuchie-Community-Council/198227933534132
Remember to hit the “Like” button if you want the latest news and updates from Freuchie Community Council.
Technorati Tags: Facebook, Freuchie, Freuchie Community Council
Whilst out and about yesterday, we spotted a manhole cover was missing, most probably stolen. The manhole in question was installed by Fife Council last year as part of the new Freuchie Mill Road surface drainage improvement scheme. This is a disgraceful theft of important infrastructure.
Photo: Missing manhole cover at Freuchie Mill Road
Fife Council Transportation Services was immediately made aware of this issue and should be dealing with it promptly. Yet again the poor taxpayer has to pick up the bill.
A Freuchie Mill resident has just informed us the theft occurred sometime between Thursday evening and Friday morning. He tried to report the missing manhole cover to Fife Council only to be told it was Scottish Waters’ responsibility, who he subsequently telephoned. FFAG has asked Fife Council to clarify who is actually responsible for this surface drainage scheme.
Let us be clear to thieves that Freuchie residents will call out the Police to investigate any suspicious individual milling about or in the act of committing a criminal offence.
Residents of Freuchie who use the old county road / track down to the Kettle Produce plant should take care not to fall into this danger. It’s probably wise to keep a tight lead on your dogs as you go past.
This incident will be reported on at the Freuchie Community Council meeting held tonight at 7:30pm in the Lumsden Hall.
UPDATE
Fife Council has promptly confirmed the drainage scheme is their responsibility. Looks like someone needs to tell the telephone call handlers 
.
Fife Council has now made the site safe by placing a pallet over the manhole chamber and putting a couple of road cones on top. Hopefully it won’t be too long before this temporary measure is replaced by something permanent and more secure.
A thanks goes to Fife Council for the prompt action.
A police officer from Cupar Police Station has been out to look over the crime scene and to take a statement.
Technorati Tags: Cupar, Fife, Fife Council, Freuchie, Freuchie Mill Road, police, Scottish Water
Thank you to all our Facebook fans who’ve “Liked” us so far. Due to a configuration step we initially missed out when setting up the Facebook integration on this blog, a few people ended up liking our Facebook app instead of our Facebook webpage. Please can you click on the “Find us on Facebook” button to check you “Like” the webpage.
Apologies for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your assistance.
Technorati Tags: Facebook
An amusing little joke that has an underlying message of importance to flood victims.
A golfer is cupping his hand to scoop water from a burn on the St Andrew’s Old course.
A greenkeeper shouts at him : ‘Dinnae drink tha waater ! Et’s foo ae coo’s shite an pish!’
The golfer replies: ‘My Good fellow, I’m from England. Could you repeat that for me, in English!?’
The keeper replies: ‘I said, use two hands – you’ll spill less that way!
Keep in mind the many nasties flood water contains when clearing up after a flood. Deaths have even been linked to disease loaded flood water. For example, Leptospirosis, otherwise known as Weil’s Disease, is one of the better know risk factors in flood water that can result in life threatening complications.
Be careful, wear appropriate PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) and use effective hygiene measures to keep yourself healthy and safe. Let the flood recovery specialists deal with everything if in doubt.
Technorati Tags: flood, flood water, Leptospirosis, Weil’s Disease
As so many people live in Facebook, Freuchie Flood Action Group now has a Facebook page for convenience and to be used as an aid in our ongoing campaign to prevent the future flooding of Freuchie.
You’ll find the Facebook fanbox at the top of the right hand sidebar on this blog.
Update
The eagle eyed amongst you may notice the Facebook fan count is one higher than the number of account avatars or there is a double avatar for one of the fans. This is a bug in the Facebook system. Discussions with another software developer has led us to conclude it would be nigh impossible to get Facebook to recognise and fix this bug! As this isn’t a show stopper we’ll not bother trying to report it to them for it to end up being ignored.
Update 2
The Facebook fanbox widget was too problematic and was slowing down the blog webpage loading so it has been disabled. A "Find Us on FaceBook" button has been put in place instead. Please use this button to find our Facebook page and then click on the "Like" link.
Technorati Tags: Facebook, flood, flooding, Freuchie, Freuchie Flood Action Group
Unfortunately the planned work to reinstate the culvert outlet area at Freuchie Mill has been delayed due to the recent bad weather and delays in the other flood prevention and protection works carried out over the last few months.
The consultants for Kingdom Housing Association has advised the work will now commence on the 28th March, lasting an expected 4 – 6 weeks. They have offered an apology for the delay which is outside of their control.
Technorati Tags: flood, Freuchie, Kingdom Housing Association
It has been a costly exercise to develop the services offered by allayit on this websites. Within the next few weeks the weather station and webcamera services currently offered for free will be switched to a subscription service – pricing information and T&Cs will be revealed soon.
The services will also be switched over to a dedicated website that will provide the infrastructure to bring the next generation of services online quickly. It will also allow us to monitor and log account activity to detect and deal with any account abuse.
Publishing of our weather data will also cease on Weather Underground and PWS Weather. The FFAGWSFM Twitter account will be switched to private and only subscribers will be able to follow the hourly weather station updates. Republishing of our weather data and webcamera images will be strictly prohibited and legally enforced.
These charges are being introduced to help pay for the costly infrastructure already installed and to provide funds to further enhance and develop the flood monitoring and warning system. It is also necessary to find a funding mechanism to pay for the energy costs associated with keeping all the computers and electronics running 24×7. The last few years have revealed there is an on-going need for maintenance and routine replacement of equipment which has to operate in an extreme environment.
There will be concessionary rates for people on low income. Free / low cost accounts will also be provided to our councillors, the flood professionals at Fife Council and named staff at Kingdom Housing Association. There will certainly be other people who will qualify for low cost or free accounts.
Please indicate your interest to maintain access to these services by either talking to John Thomson at No 15 Freuchie Mill or by sending a message using the Contact Us form.
Technorati Tags: allayit, Fife Council, Kingdom Housing, PWS Weather, Weather Underground
The Pitillock Burn webcamera has been fixed this morning. The cable was repaired thanks to a donation of a weatherproof box (thanks Neil) and a minor issue with the webcam was dealt with.
Technorati Tags: Pitillock Burn, webcam
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