The Fife Herald has a news article on floodgate ownership this week. Liz Rougvie has done her usual outstanding job of writing a thought provoking article – see P13.

Once again we thank Liz and the team at the Fife Herald for their support in bring this important issue to the notice of the general public.

Update: Article is available online.

FFAG would like to recognise the part Fife Council employees have played over the last few days. An officer from Transportation Services was out yesterday checking watercourses and the hard working guys from Community Services, who would normally be cutting the grass and keeping Fife looking beautiful, were out today checking high flood risk sites.

Hopefully Freuchie, and other communities in Fife, won’t need to test out the other flood response improvements recently made by Fife Council and partner agencies.

The Courier has written up an excellent news article regarding the recent floodgate fixture and fitting issue here in Freuchie – see page 4.

Thankfully the article is now a cautionary tale as the floodgates were returned last night.

Once again we are indebted to Craig at The Courier for showing such support for flooding issues.

Concerned local residents have closed the Greentree Brae floodgate as the level of  Freuchie Burn continues to rise.

Photo: Greentree Brae Bridge floodgate

The Freuchie Burn was running at about 60% when checked around 1:30pm today.

A recent change of ownership of an at risk property in Freuchie has brought up an interesting issue which needed both legal and technical advice: when does a floodgate become a fixture and fitting?

FFAG takes the following stance on this matter:

A floodgate, or indeed any flood protection product, becomes a fixture and fitting when any part has to be permanently fixed to the building structure OR removal of any part would result in damage to the building.

Both our legal counsel and Paul Hendy of the Scottish Flood Forum has indicated this is a grey area of law, but they take a similar stance as to when a floodgate becomes a fixture and fitting.

The floodgate system was custom constructed onsite before being installed on specific door ways, with the guide rails of the system being sealed and screwed onto the door jambs. The fixed guide rails have not been unscrewed and removed, only the floodgate panels that hold back the flood waters have been taken.

It is slightly unbelievable someone, who themselves had been badly flooded, would wilfully remove critical components of the flood protection products to take to a new property where they would be utterly useless. This selfish action has put both this property and the neighbouring property at risk from flooding. Other local residents, with the same floodgate system, found it unbelievable that anyone would take away vital parts of the flood protection, especially when everyone is well aware of how critical they are for the prevention of complete ground floor destruction in a major flood event. 

Needless to say we have advised the new householder to consult with his own solicitor as a top priority. FFAG has also sent an email to the previous owner and Your Move in Cupar, who we believe were the selling agent, stating our position and making a request for the immediate return of the removable parts of the floodgate system.

UPDATE 10TH AUGUST
Confirmed with Your Move that our email had been received and appropriate action has been taken.
Fife Herald contacted FFAG for details and photo opportunity.

UPDATE 11TH AUGUST
SEPA issued Flood Alert.
Met Office issued Yellow then Amber Severe Weather Warning.
The Courier contacted FFAG for details and photo opportunity.
Freuchie Community Council shocked by this story at the regular monthly meeting.
Floodgate parts returned on an evening when flooding is a major concern.

Please feel free to comment with your opinion and thoughts.

The Fife Herald has a news article in this week’s paper about the flood response improvements made by Fife Council and partner agencies. Freuchie is mentioned in the article with a comment or two being supplied by FFAG.

It is also available online here.

From Wikipedia:

The normalcy bias refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of the government to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.^[

Flood survivors may well recognise this in themselves and organisations responsible for disaster planning, property development and flood authorities. It is especially dangerous in people and organisations after a flood event for it may well result in little or no preparedness for future flooding.

Hopefully this post will assist people and organisation to recognise this state and do something about flooding in your area before it is too late.

Gilmartin has been working away for the last week or two reinstating the culvert outflow area at Freuchie Mill. The section of damaged culvert pipe, which was flattened by the collapsed gabion baskets back in August 2008, has been cut out and replaced with a new section. This should hopefully give a small improvement in the amount of water the culvert can handle.

 
Photos: Gilmartin working on the Freuchie Mill culvert outflow reinstatement

The workmen are currently working on extending the outflow pipe and constructing new substantial gabion baskets to a higher standard than the original construction in the 1990s.

Sadly these extensive works will bring only a negligible flood risk improvement.

The new Freuchie Mill flood barrier gets a great write-up in this week’s Fife Herald.

You can also check the online version.

The Courier has done another outstanding job of highlighting the flood risk present in Freuchie in today’s article about the new automatic flood barrier installed at Freuchie Mill. This new flood protection measure protects three Kingdom Housing Association properties from being deluged in another August 2008 type flood event.

Freuchie Flood Action Group pointed out the flood risk in this area, recommending a flood wall, a flood barrier and a pump be installed at this location. Kingdom Housing took our evidence and recommendation along to their flood consultants to come up with a design which implemented two of our three recommendations. Menzies were appointed as the contractor who fitted backflow valves, automatic airbricks, floodgates, constructed the flood wall and installed the automatic flood barrier manufactured by UK Flood Barriers – the first installation of its kind in Scotland.  In flood prevention and protection project terms this is a small and relatively inexpensive project that has massively improved the flood protection for three Freuchie Mill dwellings and added protection from sewer flooding to all Kingdom Housing Association properties.

Working with Kingdom Housing Association and their consultants we have identified further reasonable priced drainage improvements that would make a massive difference to the flood risk at Freuchie Mill. Our proposals would implement the drainage recommendations made by Fife Regional Council when Freuchie Mill was still being planned back in the 1990’s. Cllr MacDiarmid has been trying for some time to organise a meeting with Fife Council officers and other stakeholders to look at our proposals.

p.s. The press release prepared by UK Flood Barriers mentioned a nursing home hence the error in today’s newspaper article! There isn’t a nearby nursing home.

UPDATE: Article now online at http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Fife/article/12680/freuchie-mill-the-first-community-in-scotland-to-introduce-a-passive-flood-defence-system.html