Prof fears repeat of severe floods in ‘vulnerable’ village

Climate: Ballater’s position on flood plain leaves it at mercy of River Dee

One of Scotland’s foremost flood experts said there is a real threat of future flooding similar to Storm Frank which hit the north-east at the turn of the year.

Professor George Fleming, chairman of EnviroCentre and an expert on the River Dee, said Scotland will be on the end of more “extreme weather” in future years.

The emeritus professor of civil engineering at Strathclyde University has more than 45 years of knowledge of local rivers, and designed the flood bank at Ballater Golf Course in the 1990s to withstand a one-in-200year event.

The bund, which is now being rebuilt by Aberdeenshire Council, was overtopped during Storm Frank on December 30, leading to more than 300 homes and 60 businesses in Ballater being submerged.

The floods on the Dee have been described as a one-in-500-year event.

Across Aberdeenshire, more than 600 homes and 100 businesses were hit during Storm Frank – and today, the Queen will visit Ballater to speak to some of those worst affected.

Last night Prof Fleming said: “We’re entering another winter period and the situation in Ballater hasn’t changed, they are still sitting on a flood plain.

“There is the existing bund, that will protect them up to a certain level as will the temporary sandbags.

“Every winter brings floods, the size of the floods can’t be predicted, but they will come and there will be flooding; whether it will be as severe as that one (last year) remains to be seen.”

Prof Fleming said all signs pointed to “more extreme weather and more extreme rainfall” in Scotland in the future.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) predicts the impact of climate change will result in “milder and wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, more extreme weather events and rising sea levels”.

Prof Fleming said: “You have got to remember that the big flood on the Dee was a combination of melting snow and extreme rainfall. Ballater has always been sitting in a vulnerable spot.” He added the bund at the golf course would continue to protect the village up to a “certain-size flood”.

The work on the bund itself has caused a stir in the storm-battered village, with the Ballater Flood Group calling for the council to redesign it taking account of the Dee’s changed river channel.

The council has said they will remove the sandbags on Salisbury Road once the flood bank at the golf course is restored.

“The big flood was combination of melting snow and extreme rainfall”

Photograph: Kevin Emslie DEVASTATION: The flooding of the Dee at the turn of the year left a trail of destruction at Ballater, including the damage to these caravans.