Summer Flooding in North East Scotland: hydrometric* information from SEPA
Issued on 2 July 1997

Torrential rain over the past few days has brought substantial flooding to the North East of Scotland with main transport links cut and families evacuated.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has been playing a key part, behind the scenes, in flood assessment and warning. SEPA is the principal hydrometric* authority for Scotland. SEPA provides a free service - an early warning system - to emergency services throughout Scotland through its a complex, computerised hydrometric system.

Automatic gauging and rainfall stations, monitored and maintained by SEPA, are located throughout Scotland’s river systems. When the water level rises and a river exceeds a pre-programmed level, an alarm automatically triggers in police stations. SEPA operates a 24-hour stand-by system to cope with emergencies. While SEPA obviously cannot prevent flooding, this system does give a good indication of the overall picture and provides vital information for the police and other emergency services.

Flooding in the North East, 2 July (as at 3pm)

The River Lossie peaked at around noon and is now slowing receding. At midday it was at 3.08 metres - the highest since records began in 1963. The River Findhorn has peaked and is now falling steadily. It rose over three metres to 3.42 metres in the afternoon of 1 July, compared with a reading of 0.4 metres on the previous day. One of the worst affected areas was the Mosset Burn in Forres and flooding there led to the closing of the A96 at the Forres by-pass. The Findhorn reached its highest flood since 1970.

SEPA’s system also gathers information about rainfall. At Dipple (near Fochabers) a total of 104mm (4 ins) was recorded over a twenty-four hour period ending last night. That is double the normal average for the whole of June in the area.

‘The North East river systems including the Lossie, Findhorn and Nairn are unusual in that their peak floods occur in summer,’ said Richard Brown, Hydrology Head for SEPA’s North Region, ‘A slow moving low pressure weather system in the North Sea produced persistent driving rain and strong NE winds which led to widespread flooding in the low foothills and coastal plains along the North East of Scotland. The worst would appear to be over and the river levels should drop considerably over the next few days.’

*hydrometric = measuring water levels, river flows and rainfall

ENDS

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© SEPA 1997