Like ‘a plaster on a major wound’
New flood defence barriers have gone up next to the Black Lynn but have stopped short of a house left nine inches under water in the October deluge.
Flood victim Hugh Carmichael says the black barriers are as helpful as putting ‘a plaster on a major wound’.
Workmen were onsite last week putting the specially commissioned low-level flood defence in place.
A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council confirmed the black barriers going up were part of the flood defence solution.
But Mr Carmichael said his heart is still in his mouth every time heavy rain falls and he is not convinced the new barriers will save his property ‘if and when’ the burn floods again.
‘They’ve put sandbags down, dug a mound of earth to build up the side of the burn near my houses and now put these barriers up but it’s just like putting a plaster on top of a major wound.
‘The barriers have gone up by a broken bit of fence near the bridge end, not near my house. It’s the burn that’s the problem. It needs dredging and made wider at the point behind my house so that the water level stays lower. For some reason the council seems adamant that it won’t touch it.
‘I still want them to dredge the burn but nobody is saying anything. All I want is a simple yes or no answer but they won’t give it to me. I’m just waiting for the floods to happen again. The height of the water was enormous with the last heavy rain. People who’ve seen the sandbags and pile of earth at the back are asking me if that’s all the council are doing. They say it’s a joke.
‘Now they’ve got the barriers up but it’s like a job half done,’ he said.