Freuchie Flood Action Group

During tonight’s Freuchie Community Council meeting the issue of the Lomond Homes development for affordable housing to be owned and operated by Kingdom Housing at Broomfield Place was mentioned. The developer has now submitted plans which has some concern for FFAG, the most glaring of which is the developers haven’t been able to get a response from SEPA about the flooding risk in this area. We will be discussing this further with both Lomond Homes and Kingdom Housing to ensure the best outcome for the village and to minimise the flood risk for existing members of the community as well as the new homes.

The community council would like to further consult with the community about this development and have pencilled in the evening of the 24th March 2010 for a public meeting. It will start at 7:30pm in the Lumsden Memorial Hall.

Technorati Tags: FFAG, Freuchie, Freuchie Community Council, Kingdom Housing, Lomond Homes, SEPA

A tweak has been made to the Freuchie Mill weather station to bring it into line with our local SEPA rain collection station. Instead of the day being from midnight to midnight, it will now be 9am to 9am.

The computer running the data collection and website publishing will be switched over today. This may result in 30 minutes of downtime, during which there won’t be any updates, while we switch things over.

Technorati Tags: Freuchie, Freuchie Mill, SEPA, weather station

SEPA has issued a Flood Watch for Fife.

FLOOD WATCH

This statement was prepared on 19 November 2009 at 7:03 am.

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

A band of rain will stagnate over Clackmannanshire today with widespread totals of 25 to 40mm at low levels and 50 to 60mm over the higher ground. As the ground is already saturated localised flooding is expected.

This FLOOD WATCH is now in force until further notice.

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

The Met Office has also issued an Advisory of Severe or Extreme Weather for Fife that covers today and tomorrow:

There is a moderate risk of severe weather affecting many western parts of Britain. During Thursday very wet and windy conditions are expected at times with widespread rain and gales in places with winds gusting around 60 MPH. Rain will be heavy at times, especially over windward hills and mountains. Rainfall accumulations of 30 to 50mm are expected through the whole period with locally over 80mm mainly across higher ground.

Issued at: 0645 Thu 19 Nov

The weather forecast over the next 36 hours isn’t too good. Ensure you are prepared to deploy flood defences and you have moved all valuables, and anything else you can’t afford to lose, to an upstairs room or attic.

For those of you who been following our Twitter account, you may have noticed Freuchie Mill residents were heading to Cupar to collect sandbags to dam off Freuchie Mill Road and to fully protect the few homes that haven’t yet got flood doors. We got there to discover Fife Council would rather bring them out to us on this occasion.

FFAG committee members have also inspected sites around the village and further afield to ensure we have a handle on potential flooding. You may well have seen us out at 5am touring the village.

We have discovered the water draining off the railway is causing flooding at the chicken farm, water that ultimately ends up at Freuchie Mill.

Technorati Tags: Cupar, FFAG, Fife Council, flood, flooding, Freuchie, Freuchie Flood Action Group, Met Office, SEPA

SEPA has issued a Flood Watch for Fife:

FLOOD WATCH

This statement was prepared on 13 November 2009 at 6:57 pm.

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

Heavy rainfall is expected this evening and into the early hours of Saturday. 25-30mm is forecast with 50mm possible on high ground.

Localised flooding from surface water and small watercourses is possible.

This FLOOD WATCH is now in force until further notice.

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

The heavy rainfall has started in Freuchie. There are going to be a lot of Freuchie residents having a restless night tonight!

Technorati Tags: flood, flooding, Flood Watch, Freuchie, SEPA

Nearly missed an important Scottish Government press release issued on the 2nd November 2009 following the devastating floods throughout Scotland on the 1st November 2009.

02/11/2009

Commenting on the floods that have hit parts of Scotland over the past 24 hours, Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham said:

"Once again we have seen the misery and destruction flooding can cause. Our thoughts are with those whose lives and livelihoods have been affected by the overnight floods. I have asked to be kept fully informed of developments and will be keeping in touch with the councils affected. I’d like to thank all those who have again responded so quickly and effectively to minimise the impact of the floods.

24-hour Floodline
0845 988 1188

"Climate change is clearly happening on our doorsteps and flooding events such as these are likely to occur with increasing frequency. Everyone needs to be aware of the increased risks and, as we have seen in the last 24 hours, that doesn’t just apply to those living in areas where there is a history of flooding.

"Through SEPA we are continuing to invest in flood awareness and flood warning schemes to try and minimise the impact flooding has on families and businesses. I launched the latest SEPA awareness campaign only last Friday.

"We also need to take radical steps to tackle our carbon emission levels and to ensure communities get the protection they need, which is why we have recently pushed far-reaching climate change and flooding legislation through Parliament."

See it here.

Fine words and an admirable sentiment but we need to see more funds and thereafter further proactive action out on the frontline of flooding!

Technorati Tags: climate change, flood, flooding, Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish Government, 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

SEPA has kindly sent us the rainfall data from the Newton of Falkland rain collection station for our near miss event. It makes for some interesting reading, especially when we compare and contrast with previous flood events.

Table: SEPA rainfall data from Newton of Falkland

Between 5am and 9pm we experienced 44.8mm of rainfall, but thankfully there were no extreme flash flood type rain periods. Had the rainfall been heavier or lasted longer then we would have had major flooding throughout the village.

Last year’s devastating floods were caused by heavy rainfall on the preceding Saturday and then very heavy rainfall in the early hours of the Wednesday morning. Flooding started around 5:20am after two hours of extremely heavy rainfall.

Table: SEPA rainfall data from Newton of Falkland

Based on our experience and supported by the SEPA data, it appears we need to worry when we are experiencing more than 5mm of rainfall per hour on ground that is already saturated.

We desperately need to put in place Natural Flood Management (NFM) and other control measures to hold back these surge events, re-route some of the water draining into Freuchie and improve the capacity of the watercourses. Some of this is fairly easy and quick to achieve when the funding is put in place and we have the co-operation of landowners to allow flood prevention measures to be built and deployed on their land.

Rainfall data supplied courtesy of SEPA and is subject to final quality control checks. Thank you SEPA.

Technorati Tags: flood, flooding, Freuchie, Natural Flood Management, SEPA

SEPA has issued a FLOOD WATCH for Fife and Clackmannanshire:

 

This statement was prepared on 20 October 2009 at 9:54 pm.

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

Heavy rain is forecast for the remainder of Tuesday evening and into Wednesday.

Localised flooding is possible from small watercourses and surface water.

This FLOOD WATCH is now in force until further notice.

Technorati Tags: flood watch, flooding, SEPA

SEPA has issued a FLOOD WATCH for Fife and Clackmannanshire:

 

This statement was prepared on 22 July 2009 at 12:47 pm.

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

Thundery showers are forecast for today around 12 pm until 10pm in the evening across Fife and Clackmannanshire areas, giving daily totals around 30mm. River levels are high so these showers could lead to some localised flooding particularly in the smaller burns, and also surface water runoff and difficult driving conditions. As soon as more information becomes available this message will be updated.

This FLOOD WATCH is now in force until further notice.

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

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

Slow moving heavy showers may give 15 to 20mm within a few hours. The public are advised to take extra care and refer to ‘Traffic Scotland’ for further advice on road conditions and to Scottish Environment Protection Agency ‘Live Flood Warning Information’.

Issued at: 1310 Wed 22 Jul

There has been a few heavy showers today but so far they’ve been short lived.

Technorati Tags: flood watch, flooding, Met Office, SEPA

The Met Office has issued a severe weather advisory, which predicts possible heavy rainfall leading to flooding. It is in force until 6am Saturday.

An area of rain will move up across the area today this heavy and persistent giving totals between 25 and 35mm in many areas with the risk of 60-70mm over the high ground. This heavy rain could lead to some flooding. The public are advised to take extra care and to refer to ‘Traffic Scotland’ for further advice on road conditions.

Issued at: 0449 Fri 17 Jul

SEPA has also issued a FLOOD WATCH for Fife and Clackmannanshire.

This statement was prepared on 16 July 2009 at 3:11 pm.

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

Heavy rain is forecast to reach southeast Scotland later tonight edging up across Fife and Clackmannanshire areas where it will be persistent and also heavy at times during Friday, continuing on Friday night before dying out on Saturday morning. Accumulation of 40 to 60mm is widely expected with as much as 90 mm possible over high ground. This may cause flooding, particularly in smaller watercourses and urbanized areas. Also excessive surface water on the roads and difficult driving conditions may also be encountered.

This FLOOD WATCH is now in force until further notice.

Technorati Tags: flood watch, flooding, Met Office, SEPA