THE North Sea threatened to swamp a tiny port at the weekend as huge tides caused flooding on the Moray coast.
The water level was so high at Burghead that it was lapping over piers and creeping towards cars parked on the quay. Meanwhile, police closed the Garmouth-Kingston road during high tide and part of the nearby golf course was also flooded by water from the River Spey.
Locals at Burghead – where there is usually a 15ft drop into the sea from the harbour – said it was lucky Saturday had been a calm day with no high winds.
Comments flooded into the Bothy cafe’s social networking site over the weekend after a picture of the high tide was posted online.
Many residents said they had never seen the water so high before. Ceri Pridding wrote: “Wow, never saw it like that in all the years we lived there and saw some very rough tides.”
Derek Wiseman wrote: “I worked out of Burghead for 10 years and never saw that.”
Resident Dan Ralph said: “It was fine to see a high tide on a calm day. It was lapping over the top of the pier.
“It’s fortunate that we don’t have a flood risk. If the Boxing Day swim had been held at high tide it wouldn’t be as daunting for the people jumping 15ft.”
Although the high tide was also noticeable at nearby Hopeman, it was not as extreme, and the water level had receded at Burghead yesterday.
Heldon and Laich councillor Eric McGillivray said: “It was bad but it was nothing that the harbour couldn’t cope with.
“The tide was really high. But the water comes over and then back out through a channel.”
Meanwhile, sandbags were delivered to several Kingston homes by JCB digger, while a police road block was in place to ensure no one attempted to drive through the water.
The alternative access route out of Kingston, at Burnside Road, was also flooded.
A member of staff at Garmouth and Kingston Golf Club said players were used to the back nine holes being affected by flooding.
The club displays tide times to keep members informed. They are usually advised to play the back nine holes first, or play the front nine holes twice.
Kingston has been cut off by flood water several times over the past month.
Some residents claim Moray Council should take action to strengthen the shingle bank which protects their homes from the sea, but others believe there is nothing to worry about.
One Kingston householder said last night: “We live by the sea, we live near the Spey, and the water backs up. There has been absolutely no danger.”
The resident said the majority of people in the village were accustomed to changing plans if they were cut off at high tide, especially during the winter months.
Last year, Moray Council decided to monitor the shingle beach at Kingston without putting any protection measures in place.
Meanwhile, Garmouth resident Jim Mackie, who has repeatedly called for action to be taken at the beach in Kingston, has set up a new group to examine coastal erosion in Moray.
The James A Mackie Memorial Trust, named after Mr Mackie’s grandfather, who was lost at sea in the 1920s, will also examine problems with the River Spey and other local rivers.
Mr Mackie hopes to register the new group as a charitable organisation, with the main aims of environmental research and education.
He said: “I am now in negotiations with a department of the Highland and Islands University exploring the possibility of an application for European money to start some independent scientific research in the Spey Bay.”