Emergency Alert: Aviemore Braces for Severe Flooding

Web Desk

08th Oct, 2023. 08:31 pm
Share
- Listen
- Font size
  - Small
  - Medium
  - Large
- Dark Mode
- Save
- Print

Articles

Severe flood warning for Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands.

Met Office Amber rain warning for some areas of Scotland expired.
A83 road blocked by seven landslips in Argyll, vital connection.

A severe flood warning has been issued for the Aviemore area in the Highlands of Scotland. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has stated that flooding is expected to impact residences and businesses in the vicinity of the village of Dalfaber.

An Amber rain warning from the Met Office for certain areas of the Highlands and the northeast of Scotland has now expired as of 14:00.

Efforts are underway to clear the A83 road after it was blocked by seven landslips on Saturday. This road is crucial for connecting Argyll and the Inner Hebrides.

A significant amount of heavy and persistent rainfall on both Friday and Saturday resulted in water accumulation and approximately 2,000 tonnes of debris obstructing the route.

During the worst of the weather, ten individuals had to be rescued by air from their vehicles on the A83.

In the vicinity of the Rest and Be Thankful area, there was a month’s worth of rainfall, approximately 160mm (6 inches) falling over 36 hours.

Bear Scotland, the road maintenance company, stated that their catch pits and fences had succeeded in preventing a substantial amount of debris from reaching the road itself.

Due to landslides on both sides of the Dunoon junction, road closures are currently in effect between Inveraray and Tarbet. However, a diversion route via A819/A85/A82 at A85 Dalmally is open for use.

The Western Ferries route from Gourock to Dunoon is currently operational.

Ian Stewart, Bear Scotland’s northwest representative, said: “This extreme weather has caused widespread disruption, with Argyll significantly affected.

“Our teams are beginning clear-up operations to return full access to residents of Argyll, but conditions are still difficult, and we need to ensure that those on site are safe. As such, it is unlikely the A83 will reopen today.

“We are also continuing to work as part of the Argyll and Bute Resilience Partnership to assess road closures and incidents in the area.”

Sepa also has 54 flood warnings and 11 flood alerts in place.

Police said on Saturday there had been no reports of injuries but they were treating the persistent heavy rain in parts of the west of Scotland as a “major incident”.

According to the Met Office, the village of Tyndrum in west Perthshire received the highest amount of rainfall on Saturday, measuring 112.6mm (4.4 inches).

In Aberfoyle, an alert was issued by NHS Forth Valley after a lorry overturned, resulting in the release of kerosene/diesel into a watercourse.

It was reported that kerosene had also seeped into the general floodwater, posing a potential public health hazard.

Health experts responsible for protection emphasized the need for extra caution if floodwater entered people’s homes.

This caution is particularly important for certain vulnerable groups, including pregnant women, children, the elderly, and individuals with heart and lung conditions, as there could be significant health risks associated with exposure to the contaminated floodwater.

The following trunk roads are closed:

The A84 between Kilmahog and Strathyre
A92 at Letham
A83 between Tarbet and Inveraray
A828 between Connel and Ballachulish

A85 at Loch Awe

ScotRail said disruption was continuing on Sunday with the following routes completely closed:

West Highland Line between Glasgow and Oban/Fort William
All services between Edinburgh and Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen, and Inverness
All services between Glasgow and Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen, and Inverness
All services between Kyle of Lochalsh and Inverness

ScotRail is recommending that customers refrain from traveling due to the unavailability of rail replacement transportation.

Additionally, certain routes are still impacted by speed restrictions implemented as a safety measure, which could result in services experiencing delays or even cancellations.

David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “The weather we have seen over the weekend has been extreme and in some parts of the country we are continuing to see dangerous levels of rainfall and flooding.

We appreciate that weather-related disruptions like this can be frustrating, but our priority has to be the safety of the public and our colleagues.

“Our staff across the country, alongside colleagues at Network Rail, are working hard to get services back to normal as quickly and safely as possible, with the priority being getting things back to normal for Monday morning.

“Customers are advised that they should check their journey before travelling, and keep an eye on our website, app, or social media feeds for live updates.”

Vincent Fitzsimons, Sepa’s flood duty manager, said: “It’s been a rough weekend across Scotland, with severe weather causing widespread travel disruption to road and rail networks and impacts in communities from Greenock to Aviemore.

“Our teams have been working around the clock with the Scottish government and the Met Office in the lead into and across this major weather event. We have been issuing alerts and warnings to communities at risk and supporting first responders.

“Today the focus continues to turn to communities across the north, with a particular concern for severe flood impacts to communities along the Spey and Tay rivers. It’s a day to stay alert, not stand down.

The risk to life remains.

“We’ll be issuing further updates across the day to communities across northern Scotland and our advice remains for people to keep up to date with information from sepa.org.uk and follow guidance from emergency services.”

On Saturday no cross-border trains ran and ScotRail cancelled dozens of services and also cut short its scheduled timetable.

Road maintenance agencies said that conditions in the Argyll area were “challenging” and it was too dangerous to assess the A83 landslips on Saturday.

The A83 has a history of frequent landslips and closures, prompting calls for a permanent solution to enhance its resilience to adverse weather.

This 100-mile road links the Mull of Kintyre and southern Argyll to Loch Lomond, serving approximately 1.3 million vehicles annually.

To address these issues, Transport Scotland is planning to construct a mile-long open-sided tunnel at the Rest and Be Thankful mountain pass, with an estimated cost of up to £470 million.

Posting on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, the former Argyll MSP Michael Russell said: “The amount and rate of rainfall here in Argyll & Bute in the last 24 hours has been astonishing.

“However, that aside it is concerning that slips are on this stretch which is not the area where most of the major problems have previously occurred.”

An Argyll and Bute Council spokeswoman said: “We are working with our partner agencies, including Police Scotland, the HSCP (Health and Social Care Partnership) and others, to respond to the impact of this weekend’s weather in Argyll and Bute.

“We have well-established partnership arrangements for supporting vulnerable people and have put them into action. Actions have included for example preparing a rest centre yesterday in Lochgilphead for people potentially stranded because of road closures, although this ultimately was not needed.

“There are road closures across the area because of landslips, flooding, or other impacts, and advice remains to not travel in Argyll and Bute.

“We have road crews out across the area to continue work today to clear debris on the road network where possible and to assess the impact of weather conditions, and the recovery work needed.

“Many people in our communities also took action to help and we would like to thank everyone involved for their efforts.”

In the southern region of the UK, the Met Office predicted sunny conditions with temperatures reaching around 25°C (77°F) for Sunday.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan explained that this contrast in weather was a result of warm air moving up from France and colliding with cold air from the north, leading to heavy rainfall in Scotland.

The warm weather in the southern areas was anticipated to persist until Tuesday.

Emergency Alert: Aviemore Braces for Severe Flooding

Web Desk

Articles