The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Raw sewage floods home
RAW SEWAGE flooded a home and hotel when heavy rain hit the village of Milnathort on Tuesday evening.
The Jolly Beggars Hotel had up to six inches of water and effluent flowing through and a nearby residential property on Stirling Road was also flooded.
Fire crews attended the incident, which was first reported by the hotel at 8.15pm, and helped pump water from premises then yesterday a clean-up operation got under way.
Home owner Kirstin Reeve said it would likely take her three or four days to clean up.
She said: “It stinks. I had about two inches of raw sewage in my dining room and kitchen.
“My dining room was like a murky swimming pool.
“The worst image I had was my little terrier sitting on the step as the water rose up around him.
“The drain out the back of my house, which is owned by Scottish Water, kept on pumping out then the council-owned drain at the front of the building went too.
“That’s when water started coming through into other parts of the house.”
She said she has complained to Scottish Water when she had problems last year, but was told it was not a priority.
RAW SEWAGE flooded a home and hotel when heavy rain hit the village of Milnathort on Tuesday evening.
The Jolly Beggars Hotel had up to six inches of water and effluent flowing through and a nearby residential property on Stirling Road was also flooded.
Fire crews attended the incident, which was first reported by the hotel at 8.15pm, and helped pump water from premises then yesterday a clean-up operation got under way.
Home owner Kirstin Reeve said it would likely take her three or four days to clean up.
She said: “It stinks. I had about two inches of raw sewage in my dining room and kitchen. My dining room was like a murky swimming pool.
“The worst image I had was my little terrier sitting on the step as the water rose up around him.
“The drain out the back of my house, which is owned by Scottish Water, kept on pumping out then the council-owned drain at the front of the building went too.
“That’s when water started coming through into other parts of the house.”
She said she has complained to Scottish Water when she had problems last year, but was told it was not a priority.
This is, however, the first year the council drain had backed up as well.
With more bad weather likely to hit the area this week, she said all she can do is stock up on sandbags and hope for the best.
Hotel owner Anne Rowse said the water had all subsided yesterday but the building had suffered some damage.
“There were three episodes of flash flooding, with effluent running through the property,” she added.
Perth and Kinross councillor Willie Robertson, who lives in the village, said he opened up the sandbag store when he realised the severity of the rain.
He said: “Lots of people appeared to collect sandbags as they were really concerned about the volumes of water.
“The drains were surcharging and that’s what caused the flooding in properties.”
Mr Robertson said he has now written to the council to see if something can be done to solve the problem with the drains.
He said: “I feel really sorry for the people who were affected by this. We really have to try and do something about it and there will have to be an investigation.”
A spokeswoman for the fire service said three appliances and an environmental protection unit, with special equipment to tackle flooding, attended the incident on Tuesday evening.
The village has previously been affected by flooding and Doreen Milne, 56, said she and other residents spent around three hours moving sandbags to help protect properties during the heavy rain.
She said: “I am just so grateful for the help of passing strangers, the boys from the pub and my neighbours.”
A Scottish Water spokesman said: “We have been out to this location in Milnathort to assist customers and are investigating the cause.”
The Met Off ice has warned of fur ther unseasonal weather and heavy rain to come this week and there are further warnings in place for today.