Freuchie Flood Action Group

Photos: Falkland flood event on the  21st July 2010

Freuchie may have escaped being flooded this week but our neighbours over in Falkland were once again at serious danger of property damage. It was only through the installation of effective flood protection products that a number of Falkland homes escaped destruction once again.

Water courses appear to be at full capacity, spilling over their banks and the bridge arches of bridges seem to be causing water to back up. The photos suggest slowing down the flow, holding more water upstream and storing water before it enters Falkland, either natural or in ponds, would be part of a longer term solution for Falkland. Doesn’t look like there will be a simple fix, but it may well be a good candidate for Natural Flood Management (NFM) techniques.

FFAG is attempting to find out more about the Falkland flood to understand if there are some common elements that both communities can come together to address.

The need for a Falkland and Freuchie flood study grows stronger with every passing flood event.

Technorati Tags: Falkland, flooding, Freuchie, NFM

Our thoughts go out to the people of Perth affected by flooding over the last few hours.

The Perth and Kinross Council website has the following update:

Severe weather and flood warnings

SEPA has issued a flood watch for the Lower Tay and tributaries following heavy rainfall.

There is localised flooding in the Perth and Kinross area due to surface water runoff following the heavy overnight rain. Around 45 mm of rain fell in the Perth area overnight.

There are difficult driving conditions throughout the area due to surface water on roads and localised flooding.

The entry slip road from A85 Dundee Road at Perth to M90 is closed southbound due to flooding at Junction 11, Friarton Bridge. A diversion is in operation – southbound via Kinfauns flyover.

Feus Road in Perth is closed due to flooding. The B898 Dalguise Road is closed at Craignuisq. The road is effectively closed between A9 (T) at Jubilee Bridge and A827 Pitnacree Bridge. A diversion is in place via A9 to Ballinluig and A827.

The A924 Bridge of Cally to Pitlochry, at Tarvie, is closed due to flooding.

Crieff Road Pre-School Centre is closed today due to flooding however arrangements have been made for the Service to be provided today from Goodlyburn Primary School.

The Met Office has also issued a severe weather warning for the area. Rain will be persistent and heavy at times today. The public are advised to take extra care and refer to the latest SEPA Live Flood Warning Information, and also to Traffic Scotland for further advice on road conditions.

Please continue to keep an eye on the situation in your area and listen to local radio and television for further information.

This page will be updated throughout the day if the situation with road closures or flooding changes.

Checkout the BBC online article and the STV news article and video report about the Perth flood.

Technorati Tags: BBC, flooding, Perth, STV

Interesting daily rainfall graph for the 24 hour period ending at 9am this morning:

The Freuchie Mill weather station recorded 42.3mm of rain, with the highest rainfall rate of 28.8mm/hr occurring  at 4:25am.

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The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for Fife, but the Scotland wide advisory is far more accurate:

There is a moderate risk of severe weather affecting parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland. There is the potential for heavy, thundery rain to give totals in excess of 50 mm in places, with an associated risk of localised flooding.

SEPA has issued a Flood Watch:

A FLOOD WATCH has been issued for Fife and Clackmannanshire rivers.

Heavy rainfall is forecast this morning. High intensity rainfall may cause flooding on small watercourses, roads and in urbanised areas.

Freuchie has seen 38mm of rainfall in the last 6 hours with more rain to come throughout today. Condition couldn’t have been better over the last few months for Freuchie to be able to withstand such a deluge. However residents who invested in flood defences would be advised to have them on standby.

There are a number of gullies blocked in the village and Muirhead. FFAG will report these to Fife Council for maintenance.

Technorati Tags: Fife, Freuchie, Met Office, Muirhead, SEPA, weather

Almost 30mm of rain, over an inch in old money, fell on Freuchie in the last 24 hours. The interesting, or should that be concerning, period of rainfall was between 9pm and 10pm last night when the rain was falling at a max rate of 36mm per hour. Thankfully it only lasted for a brief period.

Sky and Freesat TV viewers probably noticed their receivers losing reception just before the downpour – a good indicator that the skies were full of moisture just ready to come down as torrential rainfall. However it is a real shame if it spoils your viewing enjoyment!

All this makes for an interesting daily cumulative rainfall graph.

 Click on the graph to see a high resolution version (opens in new window).

Luckily all the water courses were running very low or dry before the downpour, the fields are full of thirsty crops and our extended dry spell followed by some light rain over the last week has left the ground ready to soak up a good deal of the rainfall. 

This has been the first decent fall of rainfall for testing the drainage scheme installed at Freuchie Mill Road a few months ago by Fife Council. The new gullies are certainly making a difference to the surface water running down C24 / Freuchie Mill Road, water that would normally all flow into Freuchie Mill. Although this isn’t a test of the same scale as the November 2009 flood event, it does bring a good measure of reassurance that the scheme will make a big difference. Thanks go again to Cllr MacDiarmid and Transportation Services for all their hard work to get this installed in time for the “wet season”.

Technorati Tags: Fife Council, flood, flooding, Freesat, Freuchie, Freuchie Mill, Sky

The rainfall graph from the Freuchie Mill Weather Station (FMWS) pretty much says it all!

The rainfall seen yesterday is about half of that seen on peak days leading up to the August 2008 flooding.

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Residents throughout Freuchie are now on flood watch as water courses continue to rise due to the rain and snow falling on Fife.

SEPA has issued an alarming number of flood warnings throughout Scotland, including Fife and Clackmannanshire rivers.

This statement was prepared on 30 March 2010 at 4:24 pm.

A FLOOD WATCH has been issued for Fife and Clackmannanshire rivers.

Heavy rainfall and some snow is expected throughout Tuesday evening and into Wednesday for Fife and Clackmannanshire. Rivers are rising and localised flooding can be expected. Further updates will appear here as more information becomes available.

This FLOOD WATCH is now in force until further notice.

Concerned Freuchie residents have started to move their cars to areas of safety and items of value have been lifted above the flood level of August 2008. Flood defences are either primed or fully deployed in preparation for possible flooding.

Unfortunately this weather is forecast to be with us throughout tomorrow, with some forecasting services showing it to last into Thursday!

Technorati Tags: Fife, flood, flood watch, flooding, Freuchie, Scotland, SEPA

Due to a glitch with the Cumulus software, which logs the weather station data and sends it to the various weather services and websites, we had to reset the weather station today. This may make the weather forecast a little erratic for the next few days while it settles back down to our Freuchie weather.

Thanks go again to Ross Robertson for spotting this anomaly in the wee small hours. 

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Between 23rd December and 8th January the snowfall equated to about 20mm of rainfall. Over the last couple of days we have had the equivalent of 5mm of rainfall.

All the watercourses are running at low levels at the moment. Fingers crossed for the continued slow thaw so we don’t have any flooding incidents.

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The snowfall since our last update (approx four days ago) has been the equivalent of another 10mm of rain. A slow thaw will certainly be very welcome!

More snow is being forecast to fall on Freuchie over the next few days. Looks like a White Christmas is on the cards this year.

Technorati Tags: forecast, Freuchie, snowfall, thaw, White Christmas