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Flooding caused chaos in Southend over the weekend. |
COUNCILLORS have vowed to help the residents of Southend after heavy rain caused havoc in the village and its surrounding areas over the weekend.
expressed his concerns about the new structure the roads services department has taken, as it took until Monday for word to ‘filter through’ to senior staff about the damage to Southend’s roads.
He said: ‘I have got my concerns about the restructuring of the roads services department; there did not appear to be any mechanism in place to get senior management out but the local boys did very well.’
He said he wanted to know why it took so long to get through to the senior staff.
Southend has suffered from flood damage following cloudbursts before; 10 years ago the bridge was washed away at Dalbuie and Kintyre’s councillors are keen to see this latest bridge damage repaired as soon as possible and not drag on as the repairs did at Dalbuie.
‘The money will have to be found from the budget to get the work done,’ he said.
Councillor Donald Kelly would like to reassure the constituents of the Southend area that he will do everything in his power to ensure that the various road repairs and bridge repairs are carried out as soon as possible.
‘We have been in a similar situation with the Dalbuie bridge scenario but I will endeavour to keep pressure on the council in an effort to resolve this situation as soon as possible,’ he said.
Argyll and Bute Council’s local roads team was called out at 9pm on Saturday night and was not stood down until 1.30am the next morning, they closed the road putting the detour in place and stood by to monitor the floods.
The teams have been praised for their efforts and quick reactions to the situation.
Almost 2.8 inches of rain fell in Campbeltown from the start of August until Monday.
So far this year, from January 5 until August 11 there has been 44.9 inches of rain. Harbour Master Willie McDonald said this is quite a bit more than this time last year.
On Saturday alone 0.87 inches fell, compared to 0.08 inches from Sunday through to Monday. This is high for just 11 days, as July had 3.6 inches over the whole month.
Campbeltown fire crews were also kept busy on Saturday night when they were called to two addresses in Southend which had been flooded. Tarbert fire crews were also called down to assist them. By the time crews arrived the damage had already been done by the water, and it was a question of letting the water go and mopping up what they could.
Deputy transport spokesman, Councillor John Semple said: ‘The weather conditions which brought about this flash flood is something we as a Council and as a country will need to make greater contingency for in the future.
‘Global warming experts have predicted that our weather would become more extreme and the reality of that is starting to dawn. It is only thankful that no lives were lost and the damage is repairable, however the hurt and inconvenience caused will, I suspect, take some time to repair.’
