The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
£300k aid to plug Fife flooding problems
Action is to be taken to prevent a repeat of devastating flooding that saw scores of people driven from their homes in Fife.
The local authority has pledged to spend £325,000 on reviewing road drainage and clearing gullies and ditches in a bid to ensure vulnerable communities are better protected during any future deluges.
Hou seho lde r s in Kinglassie, Cardenden and Cowdenbeath were worst affected when the region was hit by an unprecedented storm in August and police declared a major incident.
New figures suggest the amount of rain which fell at Fife Airport, for example, was a one in 1,000 year event.
Homes were flooded and at the height of the drama, 129 council staff worked for 24 hours to deploy 4,300 sandbags.
In all, workers dealt with 239 separate incidents across the kingdom.
Many householders have still not been able to return home and the council has faced severe criticism for failing to take preventative action, including ensuring burns and gullies were clear of obstruction.
It has also been accused of failing to do enough to help in the wake of the storm.
Structural services manager Ross Speirs has defended the authority,
however, saying emergency flood procedures were put in place as soon as warnings were received from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and the Met Office.
“Prior to the flooding all flood pods were inspected and filled before, as well as during and after the first event. We also cleared all trash screens and gullies in known hot spots and cleared debris from watercourses.
“Going forward, we’ ll
continue to work with communities so that with the help of charities like the Scottish Flood Forum, they can develop low cost solutions for their local community just as they’ve done in Falkland and Freuchie.
“We’ll also keep working with our colleagues at Scottish Water as well as carry ou t regu lar watercourse inspections, targeted gully cleaning and ditch clearing to deal with blockages and excess
growth of foliage which could restrict flows.”
Mr Spe irs added : “Climate change is here to stay and the impacts of storm events like we had in August need us to carry out regular, as well as proactive, maintenance as opposed to making all our resources available for reactive works.
“On that basis and as a starting point, we’re proposing a review of roads drainage maintenance standards with a view to
aligning policy within the available budget.”
He warned the list of inves t iga t ions and mitigation measures would be challenging and carried out on a priority basis.
“Although we can’t stop the rain from falling there are things we can do to at least try and alleviate the devastation.”
The proposals will be discussed by councillors at a meeting of the policy and co-ordination committee on Thursday.