Wet carpets pile on A85 flood woes
Spray from cars got into house
Problems with drains and a manhole have been blamed for severe flooding at Lochearnhead shortly before Christmas.
Water covered stretches of the busy A85 following heavy rain on December 18.
It collected outside Briar Cottages, a luxury holiday business run by Kim and Fraser Proven, on the banks of Loch Earn.
Around the same time, flooding issues also hit residents in Cameron Court and Ravenscroft Road, about a mile away.
Ms Proven, who posted a video showing the flooding near her home, said: “The water was between two and three inches deep, covering the road and putting puddles into our front garden. Spray sent up by vehicles was also getting through our front door, wetting carpets.”
She said there were three drains near her home, one of which was “redundant because of the camber of the road”.
Neither of the other two was functioning properly prompting a long-running and recurring flooding issue on the road .
“It has led to our garden fence sinking, water not reaching the drain and our thatched roof, windows, walls and the loch garden constantly washed in high walls of water by passing traffic.
“Bear Scotland came out with five men, within two or three days of the video of the latest flood, and they did their best to identify the problem,” she added.
“They think there may have been a collapse between our house and the loch. They did a temporary blow-out of the drain and committed to coming back in March and working on a longerterm solution.
“I understand they are also looking at other areas of the road where flooding occurs with a view to tackling those.”
Stirling MSP Bruce Crawford was alerted to the problems in Cameron Court, of the A85, and Ravenscroft Road, a short distance away off the A84. Mr Crawford wrote to Scottish Water chief executive Douglas Millican about the issue and received a reply on December 27 from the company’s head of corporate relations Alan Thomson.
He confirmed ‘operational colleagues’ had cleared a blockage in a manhole which is meant to drain water from the properties in Ravenscroft Road and Cameron Court as well as the main road.
“The blockage was due to sticks and other large pieces of surface water-related debris which we believe is likely to have come from the road drainage on the A85,” he added.
“We have removed all the debris which was present from the manhole and this has resolved the issue.”
Mr Crawford said: “I am pleased there was a swift response to this issue, which was a cause for clear concerns amongst locals in Lochearnhead over the Christmas period.
“We have been lucky not to have had much severe weather over this winter yet, however it is worrying that this is what debris can cause.”
Spray sent up by vehicles was also getting through our front door, wetting carpets