Forres hit by flash floods and thunder storms during an expected 48 hours of rain
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FORRES was hit by thunder, lightning, flash flooding and a power cut last night.
A torrential downpour started at around 8pm and lasted about an hour but lighter, consistent rain continues and there was another, shorter, thunder storm at 2am.
Flooding was reported around the town but was particularly bad at Old Mint Road, Orchard Road, Fleurs Road, Councillor's Walk and Bogton Road.
Sandbags were still placed outside properties this morning – with rain forecast to continue on and off until tomorrow evening.
Police Scotland received reports of flooding at Councillor’s Walk and Bank Lane. Officers attended both to assist with traffic management.
Fire crews attended Mannachie Grove and Bank Lane to pump water from homes.
A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson added: "We were alerted at 9.20pm on Tuesday, July 27 to reports of flooding affecting the Forres area.
"Firefighters worked alongside emergency service and local authority partners to remove water affecting residential properties and are no longer in attendance at any of the locations. There were no reported casualties."
One Orchard Road resident confirmed his home was minutes away from flooding.
He said: "We could hear the water gurgling under the floorboards on the ground floor and our entire back garden was under water up to the patio doors but we were relatively lucky."
A Fleurs Road resident added: "My husband measured the water last night and it was eighteen inches in front of our house. We are fine now though."
Forres Community Councillor John Innes lives near the roundabout at South Street/Tolbooth Street/Orchard Road.
He said: "At one point the water was racing around the roundabout, a couple of feet deep by my flood guard on the front gate.
"It was severe around the roundabout and Orchard Road car park, and especially Bank Lane beside the scout hall.
"A big thanks to Forres Fire Brigade for pumping out the car park and saving houses from severe flooding. They did a sterling job for three hours at a house next to the hall that needed pumped out.
"It's eight years since things were as bad - hopefully Scottish Water and Moray Council can look into this again as the drains are not fit to cope with flash flooding."
Moray Councillor George Alexander (Forres, Independent) lamented the inability of the town's ageing drainage system to cope with such downpours.
He said: "Flooding problems very soon developed at the usual points such as Bank Lane and the area at the bottom of Tolbooth Street.
"Due to the timely assistance of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the mitigating actions taken by residents after previous floods, damage was kept to a minimum."
Cllr Alexander was not personally affected at his home at Waterford other than seeing large puddles form because the rain was falling faster than the ground could absorb it.
He added: "The rain has not had a dramatic effect on the water levels of the Mosset and Findhorn but this could change over the next 24 hours. I am confident that the flood alleviation schemes will cope in this case.
"Anyone who has had a near flooding experience should seek advice on what mitigating action to take to prevent future flooding.
"It is also the responsibility of Scottish Water to ensure the efficiency of the surface drainage in Forres and I would expect them to take action, along with the Moray Council, where necessary."
A Scottish Water spokesperson said: "We are aware of the weather forecast and will be prepared as much as possible for heavy rainfall and the impact of that on the sewer network.
"In recent years parts of Scotland have experienced a number of very intense, short duration storm events which can put the drainage systems, including the sewer network and road drains, under significant pressure and at risk of being overwhelmed.
"This can have the unfortunate consequence of flooding that is beyond Scottish Water’s control. The complex nature of flooding across Scotland, with many agencies responsible for different aspects of the sewerage and drainage systems in our communities, means that a partnership approach is vital for reducing the risk of flooding.
"We will continue to work with local authorities to understand areas most affected and how we can reduce flood risk from surface water flooding during these intense rainfall events."
Local authority employees worked until the early hours of the morning to support residents around Moray.
A spokesperson said: "One of our senior roads engineers worked through the night in Forres and said the intensity of the rainfall made it incredibly difficult for drainage systems to cope with such a large volume of water in such a short period.
"Not long after the first deluge came a second wave of rain, before the sewer capacity had time to clear."
Moray Council is working with SEPA and using Met Office data to monitor the forecast and potential flooding impacts which may arise today.
"There’s likely to be an element of unpredictability on where the intense rainfall will land," added the spokesperson.
"We’re not currently dealing with any active emergency calls for flooding, and we have crews on standby to deal with any issues which may arise. We’re also preparing sandbags should these need to be deployed later on in the day – if this happens we’ll issue communications around where these are located. Please do not turn up at council depots for sandbags."
Forres Academy at Burdsyard Road was flooded.
A council spokesperson said: “Clean-up works are underway after water ingress during intense rainfall last night.
"The main school office, pupil support base and some classroom and corridors have been affected. Staff are on site and electrics have been safely reinstated to most of the school."
Cllr Aaron McLean (Forres, SNP) called the storm "biblical".
He said: "The fire brigade were in attendance at Bank Lane pumping water out of a house there. The police were at Councillors Walk where the road was closed and also at Tesco where the power was out.
"Paul Barron from the Roads department surveyed the situation and delegated sandbags. There are currently council teams around the town helping out residents and working on drains amongst other things.
"Thankfully most of the surface water seems to have gone and power has returned around the area. I would like to thank all the workers who were out there overnight, keeping homes safe and restoring power."
Cllr Lorna Creswell first heard thunder at around 4pm but was unaware of the storm until driving back from Elgin in the evening.
She said: "The light was different from what we’ve had recently for that time - as soon as I reached the Kinloss turn-off I realised how bad it was with huge puddles and a dark sky.
"I've been sent photos of parts of Forres that were flooded as drains couldn’t cope so hope we can accelerate the clearing off as soon as possible."
Moray's MSP Richard Lochhead has been kept up-to-date by councillor colleagues.
He said: "The heavy downpour and flash flooding caused a great deal of concern for the residents and businesses affected.
"The council has had teams out to assess the situation and support the community.
"I’m grateful to all those who responded, including council workers and the fire service, as well as those who worked to get power back on in people’s homes.
"Although things look a lot better today, I’d encourage people to take extra care when out and about as weather warnings remain in place."
A power cut lasted around 30 minutes from 9pm and affected areas including Thornhill, Pilmuir, Califer, Knockomie, Balnageith, Sanquhar and Mundole. It also affected Dunphail and Altyre.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) was alerted to a cable coming down onto the road during the evening storm. Engineers needed to partially switch off the supply to make repairs at 9.02pm.
Around 1800 customers were impacted. The power was restored in stages, with all back on by 2.24am.
An SSEN spokesperson said: "We’d like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by the last night’s outage in the Forres area and thank the local community for their patience as our teams worked to safely restore supplies as quickly as possible.”
More information is available about who to contact if experiencing flooding at www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_92010.html
SEPA flood alerts and warnings are at https://floodline.sepa.org.uk/floodupdates/ and Met Office weather warnings at www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2021-07-28
