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.

A Met Office spokesman on the BBC Scotland News programme revealed the following statistics for the first ten days of August:

2/3 of weather stations in Scotland have already recorded the usual amount of rainfall that would be seen in the whole of August.

Aberdeen has recorded 1.5 times
Edinburgh has recorded 2 times
Leuchars has recorded 3 times

Our own weather station is showing 107.4mm so far in August as of 7pm on the 11th August, with half of this rainfall being over the last 36 hours.

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.

The Courier has just published an article on the flooding which affected so much of Scotland and North East England. Check it out here.

Thankfully Freuchie only had about 26mm of rainfall, most of which was light, over the weekend.

Another sad day for a community in Scotland as the people of Morningside in Edinburgh experience a destructive flash flood event a few days ago.

The Daily Record has comprehensive coverage of the disaster:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2011/07/09/flash-floods-hit-streets-of-edinburgh-leaving-drivers-stranded-86908-23258891/

Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected.

Feel free to contact FFAG if you require any advice.

Water course levels have steadily fallen since the last post… thankfully.

 
Photos: Freuchie Mill culvert @ 9am

The 26.4mm of rainfall experienced over the last 24 hours wouldn’t normally have been a cause of major concern but the frozen and saturated ground and remainder of the snowmelt made for a worrying few hours in the early hours of this morning.

Graph: Cumulative Rainfall graph for the last 24 hours

There will be many Freuchie residents having a wee sleep during the day today! Lots of sleep to be caught up on.

Freuchie really dodged a bullet last night. An hour or two more of warm front rainfall would have seen flooding occurring again in our village. We hope everyone else at risk of flooding in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK also survived unscathed.

Technorati Tags: flooding, Freuchie, rainfall, Scotland, UK

Our hearts go out to the communities of Scotland badly affected by flooding over the last 24 hours. Overnight the west of Scotland has been badly hit, with the north seeing flooding later on. It is now being reported that the south of Scotland is at risk of heavy rainfall and localised flooding. 

Media news articles on the flooding:

• BBC: Homes hit as torrential rain causes flooding
• Daily Record: Heavy rain causes rockfall and road closure near Edinburgh Castle
• Express: FAMILIES EVACUATED AS SCOTLAND HIT BY FLASH FLOODS
• STV: Flooding hits the west
• STV: Homes evacuated as heavy rain causes disruption across Scotland
• The Herald: Torrential rain causes floods across large parts of country
• The Scotsman: Whirlpool weather hits Scotland

Luckily Freuchie has only experienced a small amount of rainfall over the last 24 hours – only 11.1 mm in the 24 hours previous to 9am this morning and 2.1mm since. It is only a matter of time before Freuchie is in the news again as properties are flooded. We cannot be complacent in our campaign for a full flood study and flood prevention and protection projects.

Technorati Tags: BBC, Daily Record, flood, flooding, Express, Freuchie, Scotland, STV, The Herald, The Scotsman

It is very sad to hear of the loss of 200 lives in southern China as the area is hit by flooding. Nearly 70,000 people have also be evacuated from their homes near the Fuhe river in Jiangxi province following the failure of a river dike.

It has certainly been a bad week for flooding through the world with many people losing their life in China, France and Spain. Thankfully the good weather in Scotland has made for favourable conditions where flooding is unlikely – long may it last!

Technorati Tags: China, flood, flooding, France, Fuhe, Jiangxi, Scotland, Spain

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

The Met Office has issued a “Flash Warning of severe or extreme weather”:

Rain will spread northwards across southern and central Scotland during this evening and right through into tomorrow morning becoming heavy at times with totals of 25 to 30mm generally but with 50mm possible over the high ground. The public are advised to take extra care and refer to the latest Scottish Environment Protection Agency Live Flood Warning Information.

This warning is in effect from 9pm tonight until 10am tomorrow morning.

SEPA has no flood warning in force for Fife so far.

Standby your sandbag and grab some sleep now!

Technorati Tags: flash warning, flood, flooding, Met Office, Scotland, SEPA