Following Storm Barbet (see here) Brechin and other settlements located by rivers which flow south and east out of the Cairngorms have TV once again been affected by flooding. People from Brechin whose property has been wrecked have been moved into hotels and describe what they have been through in the last three months as “living hell” (see here).
The message contained in flood warnings
Meantime the flood warnings issued by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) provides an insight into why government in Scotland has failed to address the issues and paid only a paltry £1500 to people whose homes have been wrecked:
“Areas affected: Brechin
Started at: 04:33 GMT on Thu 28 December
Flooding is expected – immediate action required
A FLOOD WARNING has been issued for Brechin
An updated FLOOD WARNING has been issued for Brechin.
The River South Esk has peaked in this area. River levels remain high and are expected to fall slowly throughout Thursday.
Further updates will be issued if appropriate.
Remain vigilant and remember, it is your responsibility to take actions which help protect yourself and your property. Advice and information is available through Floodline on 0345 9881188. This FLOOD WARNING UPDATE is now in force until further notice……………
Issued at: 04:33 GMT on Thu 28 December
Issued by: Scottish Environment Protection Agency“
Similar flood warnings issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in England say nothing about it being the responsibility of the individual to “protect themselves and their property”. An example, copied at the same time as the flood warning for Brechin:
“Areas affected: Groundwater flooding in villages surrounding Andover
ACTIVE
Started at: 10:24 GMT on Wed 27 December
Flooding is possible – be prepared
Groundwater levels in villages surrounding Andover are high and continue to slowly rise. Groundwater is affecting cellars in Appleshaw and Hatherden, the sewer network in Penton Mewsey, and the main road in Penton Grafton. The spring at Biddesden could begin to flow from Thursday (28/12/2023). From today (27/12/2023) until Sunday (31/12/2023), the weather is forecast to be unsettled with up to 35mm across these five days. We expect groundwater levels to peak around the time of New Year. From the beginning of January 2024, cellar flooding in Penton Grafton and Kimpton, groundwater emergence into Deacon and Down Road, Kimpton, and surface water flooding in Thruxton could be possible, and is also likely after further heavy rain affects the area. We continue to monitor the forecast. Please remove valuables from cellars and ensure pumps used to reduce water levels can operate. This Flood Alert will be updated by 17:00 on Wednesday 03/01/2024.
Issued at: 10:24 GMT on Wed 27 December
Issued by: The Environment Agency”.
The idea that it is the individual’s responsibility to protect themselves from environmental disasters is a neo-liberal one. It follows from the Thatcherite view that there is no such thing of society and is part of a worldview that assigns responsibility to the individual whatever happens to them: unemployment, ill health, homelessness etc. God help anyone in Brechin whose house is made uninhabitable by flooding.
Under the neo-liberal world view those in power, whose decisions and actions cause people to become unemployed, ill (think of how particulate pollution causes respiratory disease) or homeless, are never deemed responsible for the misery they cause. The flooding in Brechin is a case in point. When did you last hear Sepa or the Scottish Government say anything about the responsibilities of the (mostly) very rich grouse moor owners who burn large areas of the Cairngorms and in so doing have increased the rate that water runs off the hill flooding the low ground below?
The Scottish Government and its agencies may sound more caring than those in England,but the truth is ultimately their approach to climate change and environmental disasters is as much in hock to the neo-liberal world view as government down south. And in some cases, as in Sepa’s flood warnings, this is more explicit than it is in England. We should not be surprised, its the same civil service that briefs politicians and the Scottish Government and its agencies are lobbied and influenced by all the same vested interests in England.
An opportunity for change?
The Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill potentially provides an opportunity for the Scottish Parliament to rectify this. It could switch attention from blaming victims to the grouse moor owners up the hill, who more than anyone else are in a position to do something to reduce flood damage. In particular the Scottish Parliament could examine the role that muirburn plays in flooding.
The challenge of doing this should not be under-estimated. The non-governmental organisations that have been campaigning to control muirburn have been mainly concerned about its impact on deep peat. Much of the latest issue of the Scottish Wildlife Trust magazine, for example, was devoted to muirburn, describing it as a “hot topic” and “burning issue” but said nothing about flooding. This focus on peat has left the door open for sporting interests to argue that muirburn should be allowed to continue on other ground, which includes much of the Angus Glens above places like Brechin .
For the last six months certain sporting interests have been using the large fire that took place near Cannich in May to promote the claim that the best way to fight fire is with fire, with Kate Forbes MSP acting as their leading political mouthpiece (see here). I will consider those claims and what happened at Cannich in more detail in the New Year. The important point here is that at the first reading of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill earlier in December, the “fight fire with fire” argument dominated the debate and no MSP appeared to have been well enough informed to challenge this.
Flooding was not even mentioned. It should have been as its the weak point of those who are arguing muirburn is necessary to stop worse fires. Kate Forbes needs to be challenged to show as much care for those inhabiting the “living hell” of places like Brechin as she has for gamekeepers and to support new laws that would enable landowners to be held responsible for the way they manage their land and the impact this has on the rest of the population.
Some tangent but hey ho, there you are.
Babet as mentioned before 152 mm in 24 hours. 40 more than anything previously recorded.
If that was in Glasgow would there be flooding?
Now this may be a shock to you, but if you build on a floodplain like say the aptly named river street in Brechin it may flood.
Buy a house called the mill on the side of a river you shocker the same thing may happen, especially if it was canalised to form a lade.
Then there is of course the issue of debris or damming from trees that have been felled by say wind or beavers, what do you think is going to happen? Yip more felling of trees from the resulting rerouting of rivers by nature.
Just a few more real life facts for the audience
Babet
Frday 20 October 152mm
Saturday 21 October 38mm
Sunday 22 October 4
Following weekend storm name passes me by
103mm
October total was 446.5mm
December is currently sitting at 214
Rainfall of 27 December was 51mm after 40 mm the previous week.
What is more it was on frozen ground so ran off down burns and rivers as one may expect.
It should be noted by the audience the rainfalll to date sits at 1470 which is equivalent of Aultbea on the West.
This is an area with average annual rainfall of 1000mm.
What does the author expect to happen at these levels? Hide in the hills?
Oh come on – you’re seriously trying to equate the SNP and Greens with the Tories as identical “neo-liberal” parties? In reality, your beloved Labour are more like the Tories – because under the legacy Westminster FPTP system they forever chase Tory swing voters to take their turn at power. So however much you’d “like” the Labour party to be progressive, in reality they just follow the same path as the tories on key policy areas. Take a look at the World Inequality Database and treack inequality in the UK during Tory and Labour governments over the last 30 years. No change. In fact they’ve both allowed inequality to vastly increase at a time when true progressive governments in large socialist European countries like Spain, France or The Netherlands have significantly decreased it. Wake up and realise that the only way Scotland can implement progressive policies is by a system reset at Westminster (not going to happen, whatever the members want – see above) or Scotland regains independence and implements a modern progressive democracy like most other European countries,. In any case, your anti-Scottish Government posts are becoming increasingly extreme and bizarre, so after some years reading your blog and finding most posts interesting, fair, and well researched, I’ve now unsubscribed. Dissappointing that you went in this direction.
Besides wrongly claiming I support the labour party – I don’t actually support any political party – my wider point is neoliberal thinking dominates government/the state and as a result there is far more in common between the political parties than their differences.
My experience in the central belt is that perceived increase in flooding incidents is due to the fact that surface water drainage infrastructure is not maintained to historic levels; ditches and burns are not cleared out regularly if at all and road gullies are now only occasionally cleared on a reactive basis, sometimes sucking out the “pot” and ignoring the fact that the drain itself is choked. As far as property flooding is concerned, some of it is new build in stupid places but it is very unusual for what the archaeologists call “high status buildings” to be flooded as it was usually built on sites known not to flood. Where other older housing is seen to flood it will often be found that this happened regularly in the past, the difference is that nowadays the houses have plaster on the downstairs walls, fitted carpets and are full of expensive soft furnishings and electrical and electronic stuff. Often the “increased impact” of flooding quoted is the cost of disposing and replacing all this stuff which simply didn’t exist in the past; people just moved upstairs for a few days.
The obvious example of this is the King’s Head Arms in York. Probably floods on average every year. It’s been there in the same spot for hundreds of years, yet somehow it manages to shrug off a flood very quickly. Well, stone flagged floors a bar made out of stone and solid heavy duty oak chairs and tables help a lot. You can just hose it down and be back in business.
I presume they have their electrics, coolers, fridges etc. mounted above flood level. Of course historically they didn’t have such things, just barrels of locally brewed beer on a shelf. (I wonder if any pub owners have thought of avoiding the current high energy costs by going right back to basics.) Lots of aerial footage of flooded flood plains around just now – you can spot the “islands” which stay dry and see what is built on them.