Moray Council has announced a partnership with Scottish Water in an effort to solve drainage issues in Forres that resulted in flooding last week.
Sandbags were laid outside properties and the fire service was called out to assist after flash floods appeared around the town during stormy weather on Tuesday.
Overwhelmed drainage systems have been identified as a major cause of the problems by the local authority, and they have now looked to the public company to help them find a solution.
Scottish Water modelled the network of drains in Forres as part of the most recent Flood Risk Management Planning process, and it is this data that is currently being analysed by Moray Council.
The information will be combined with historic flooding data to form a new Surface Water Management Plan – with the aim of ensuring all rainwater has somewhere to go.
‘Significant pressure’ on network
However, a member of Scottish Water’s flood risk management team has said there are “few easy options” for answers.
Grant Vanson, from the team, said: “Very intense storm events of the kind that occurred in Forres last week put urban drainage systems, including road drains and the sewer network, under significant pressure.
“Very high volumes of rainfall in a very short period of time overwhelm the available pipes and storage capacity and unfortunately this results in flooding.
“Scottish Water and Moray Council have been working together to understand the areas most affected and consider measures that can be introduced to reduce the surface water flood risk during these intense rainfall events.
“There are few easy options, but we are committed to working in partnership with the council to make progress.”
Weather warning approaches
The announcement comes ahead of a weather warning for thunderstorms covering the entirety of mainland Scotland on Saturday.
The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency has also issued flood alerts for areas including the north-east.
If Moray is hit by rain as significant as last week, it is likely that the Forres drainage system will be put under pressure again.
Consultancy Manager for Moray Council Debbie Halliday said: “This plan will identify areas in Forres at risk of flooding, the flood mechanism and potential actions that can be taken to mitigate flooding.
“It should be noted that potential actions to mitigate flooding will be subject to an economic appraisal before funding can be secured.
“We seek, however, to reassure residents and business owners in Forres that meaningful work is going on to develop solutions to the long-standing issue of drainage flooding in the area.”