This is the devastation caused to a Moray family’s home after torrential rain battered the area at the weekend.
Murky water engulfed the bottom floor of Neal and Claire Stewart’s home in Buckie after the downpours caused a burn to burst its banks.
The floods rushed from the A942 road into the town on Friday, submerging a supermarket car park and petrol station, and the Stewarts’ family home on Fairway Road.
The couple made frantic efforts to protect their valuables before having to flee their house and spend the night with family.
This is the second time the Stewarts, and their children aged 10 and 12, have been forced out of the property.
In 2014 the family had to leave their house for four months after more floods hit.
Determined not to undergo that upheaval again, they enlisted the help of friends and relatives and spent an exhausting weekend restoring the residence.
Mr and Mrs Stewart say they are now “living in fear” of yet more flooding, and are demanding that action be taken to safeguard properties in the town.
Yesterday, the couple described their “traumatic” weekend.
Mrs Stewart said: “The water started rising really quickly after the kids got home from school, and was coming into the house at about 4pm.
“We thought the drains would kick in as it started coming near us, but it didn’t stop.
“My mum picked up the kids and the dog, and we put some items of furniture up on paint tins to keep the water from reaching them, and moved other things out the way.”
Mr Stewart added: “Outside, the water was up to my waist and the sitting room was under about eight inches.”
Though Mrs Stewart’s dad and brother managed to help relocate some heavy items, the family’s washing machine, fridge and freezer were all damaged.
Firefighters remained at the Stewarts’ home pumping water out of it until 9pm that night.
The couple spent hours on Saturday and Sunday dealing with the after-effects.
Mrs Stewart said: “Having to move out would just be adding trauma on top of trauma.
“A team of us cleaned the place and got it as back to normal as it can be.”
She added: “We can’t live in fear like this, we need a solution to be found to stop this from happening a third time.
“People are extremely anxious now, wondering if it will happen again.”
Flooding two years ago was attributed poor drainage in the area, and work to improve that was carried out this year.
It is understood that Moray Council flood alleviation experts and Sepa representatives visited Buckie to survey the scenes on Friday.
Last night, Buckie councillor Gordon McDonald called for a “comprehensive review” into the problems blighting that part of the town.
The Tesco filling station and its adjoining shop closed that afternoon as floodwater surrounded pumps and destroyed stock.
The premises remained shut throughout Saturday as refrigerators were repaired and only reopened yesterday – though its car wash is still out of commission.
Staff at the store say the water sent Kit Kat bars and Kinder chocolate eggs floating out into the forecourt, where opportunistic passers-by fished them out of the murky depths and made off with them.
An employee added: “It was crazy, it was like there was a river running through the shop.”
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Parklands Care Home, on High Street, said vulnerable residents were “very worried” as they watched its car park become submerged on Friday evening.
However, firefighters managed to pump water away from the premises before it seeped into the home.
A fire service spokeswoman said: “Crews attended a residential cottage, and the Parklands Care Home – and used pumps to direct water away from both.”
