Following a nation wide consultation, SEPA has published the National Flood Risk Assessment.

The National Flood Risk Assessment is the first step of the new risk-based approach to managing the impacts of flooding, introduced by the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. It represents a significant milestone in our understanding of flood risk by bringing together the latest information on the sources and impacts of flooding across Scotland.

From the National Flood Risk Assessment we have found that one in 22 of all residential properties and one in 13 of all non-residential properties are at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea or heavy rainfall in urban areas. The outcomes of the National Flood Risk Assessment will help us to target actions for flood risk management in those areas where we can have the greatest impact.

SEPA has published the following documents to accompany the National Flood Risk Assessment:

• The National Flood Risk Assessment ( 774Kb): This document provides further detail on the National Flood Risk Assessment and how its outcomes support Flood Risk Management Planning.
• Flood Risk Management Strategies and Local Flood Risk Management Plans ( 463Kb): Provides detail on the content and production of Flood Risk Management Strategies and Local Flood Risk Management Plans.

>> View the National Flood Risk Assessment here

Freuchie is shown as being in an area at significant risk from flooding. Two locations within Freuchie are highlighted as “Flood Events” hotspots.

FFAG will be assessing the various documents and resources made available by SEPA.

Following flooding in the West of Scotland over the last few days, Paul Hendy of the Scottish Flood Forum was interviewed by David MacKay on Scotland Tonight.

Do you agree or disagree with the comments made by Paul?

It is becoming increasingly clear that years of underinvestment by local authorities and Scottish Water need to be scrutinised from a flooding viewpoint. Both should and must do more in the coming years as the statutory duties of the Flood Risk Management Scotland Act 2009 come fully into force.

Our experience with Fife Council has seen a massive improvement in the way they deal with flooding over the last three years. The flood officers are taking their duties extremely seriously, working hard behind the scenes to do as much as possible. Unfortunately the budget they are given is no where near enough!

Many properties were built on sites where flooding was either not considered or the development was allowed to take place as long as it appeared to meet a 1 in 30 year flood return period. Thankfully the building standards of today insist on at least 1 in 200 years and it is now common for a Flood Risk Assessment to be performed in areas at risk of flooding.

SEPA has impressed FFAG over the last few years as they carefully consider flooding issues and planning applications. They’ve saved the community from worse flooding on more than one occasion.

Sad to report more flooding in the UK. This time it is the Dorset resort of Bournemouth. Sounds fairly bad going by this Guardian news article. Further flooding is expected as the weather worsens over the next few days.

The Bournemouth Echo has graphic photographs in their coverage.

FFAG is thinking of all those affected by this latest bout of flooding. Please be careful and remember flood waters can be dangerous is so many ways.

Just received an email from the Chair of Cockermouth Flood Action Group:

Hi, I’m chair of Cockermouth Flood Action Group. Just wanted to say we are thinking about you, hope the water abates soon and keep up good work.

The lovely sentiment helps to brightens the day here in Freuchie.

FFAG hopes all is well in Cockermouth. We all remember the horrific scenes on our television screens when Cockermouth was devastated by flooding and the sad loss of PC Bill Barker while performing his duties in nearby Workington.

Have a look at the Cockermouth Flood Action Group website. They are doing a grand job.

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.

A concerned citizen made a call to the SEPA Floodline service to inquire about the Freuchie area, the call handler recommended they visit the FFAG website for the most up to date information.

A fabulous endorsement that recognising all our hard work.

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.

Scary rain is heading our way by Wednesday, potentially lasting into next week.

Weather forecast data for Freuchie from the Norwegian Weather Service

Fingers crossed the weathermen have it wrong.

The cumulative result of the rainfall this week past and the forecast rainfall, if repeated across Scotland, will undoubtedly and sadly result in flooding throughout Scotland.  Our experience of past flood events in Freuchie suggests these daily rainfall totals will see watercourse levels rising to levels where we will be closely monitoring the Freuchie and Pittilock Burns.

Be prepared and keep an eye on the FFAG web resources for information as the weather patterns evolve over the coming days.

Falkland once again experienced flooding last Saturday evening. This is a very scary occurrence as the rainfall measured by the Freuchie Mill weather station was only about 10mm for the full day. This level of rainfall really shouldn’t be causing flood events!

Local resident Betty Gilchrist supplied the above photos and the following update to FFAG:

After a great lot of thunder in the afternoon with no rain, after 5.p.m. it did rain but nothing much to talk about, then suddenly at the back of 8 o’clock this water suddenly arrived by 10 o’clock it had greatly subsided. During the time of the flooding it managed to get in to the house of Bridge-end, they do have a  flood gate but as they only moved into the house a few weeks ago were not expecting this to happen in the summer. Burnside cottage did have their floodgate on and prevented them from having water in their house. As my house sits a bit higher I was lucky again, but the day might come. The water from the burn does not burst its banks  in Balmblae it bursts it’s banks in the West Loan park and runs along the road and into the houses in Balmblae.

Once again a flood event occurs in the highest priority area in Fife waiting for a flood study. Time for Fife Council to get this important investigation work out of the way to allow prevention and protection measures to be put in place for Falkland and Freuchie.

FFAG must apologise for the Freuchie Mill weather station being down for the last few weeks. Unfortunately the engineer who looks after this system was unavailable to bring the system back online. Luckily there wasn’t too much call for the service during this period of downtime; Mother Nature was kind to us the last few weeks. The system has been updated and brought back online today.

This service will shortly be moving to new server infrastructure at which time it will become a subscription service for access to up to date weather data. More details to follow once the new system is ready.