A Moray community group is hoping to raise money to support efforts to create a flood prevention scheme to stop the River Spey flooding into Garmouth.
This comes as the water from the river has poured through the stricken village 11 times since October – including four times within one traumatic February week.
Now, Innes Community Council has launched a crowdfunder to raise £5,000 to have the area professionally scanned using drones and specialist cameras to show how engineering works could be best carried out to guide the river back to its sustainable course.
Community Council secretary Jim Mackie believes something needs to be done before the Garmouth flooding crisis “gets worse”.
Mr Mackie said: “Something needs to be done before it gets worse and as no landowner or any organisation is taking any lead.
“The lack of bank management in recent years has caused the river to move 600 yards westwards.
“A Lidar camera uses a laser beam to measure and plot the features of the land surface giving a map laid out with contour lines or in a 3D format.
“The data gathered will be used to develop a greater plan to solve the flooding that the village has suffered over the years.
“After we raise the money we will get Glasgow University to carried out the scientific work.
“The Lidar is a very important tool and once we get that report back we can go to Moray Council and Crown Estate to say this is what the lay of the land and what will happen if nothing happens.”
Meanwhile, Moray Council confirmed that they will report on their own study examining the recent changes to the River Spey in the Garmouth area by June this year.
A spokeswoman added: “Our skilled flood risk engineers conducted a site visit in December following the most recent flooding in Garmouth, and spoke with a number of residents about their concerns.
“We also reviewed the operational flood warning level, with data we received from SEPA.
“We’re currently reviewing the information we already have from topographical surveys between the River Spey and Garmouth village, so we can better understand how the water is flowing at different flood levels.
“We’ll report on this investigation by June this year.”
People can donate by visiting www.crowdfunder.co.uk/speymouth-environmental-initiative.