Events

Floodwarning Public Meeting with SEPA and Huntly Community Council

17 March 2010

Huntly is one of the areas benefitting from a new £1 million flood warning system - come to the public meeting at the Stewart's Hall to learn about the Floodline service.

Earlier this month a new £1 million Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) scheme to protect vulnerable communities from the threat of flooding in high-risk areas of the North East of Scotland was launched in Huntly by Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead. 

The River Deveron is part of this new system and one of the areas benefitting from flood warnings is Huntly.

To help Huntly people learn more about this, and how they can use the Floodline service, Huntly Community Council is hosting a public meeting with SEPA on Wednesday 17th March, 7.30pm at  The Stewart's Hall, Huntly.

Huntly Community Council's Dr Avril Morrison said:

"We welcome this new flood warning system and hope it will prevent the sort of damage and destruction that happened here iin November 2009 when in the space of just a few hours over a hundred people in our local community were affected by flooding"

SEPA's Stewart Prodger said:

"This event is to inform people in Huntly about how this new flood warning service works, where they can access information and, most importantly, how to use it. We would encourage those living in local areas at risk from river flooding, or anybody simply wishing to know more about what are providing, to come down to the meeting on Wed 17th."

He added, "The aim of this any SEPA flood warning scheme is to prevent loss of life and reduce the economic damage caused by floods. We achieve this through the ability to forecast likely flood conditions and provide interpretation and warnings to those at risk.

Rainfall and river level monitoring across the area will provide SEPA with improved information on conditions, which will then be used to provide advance warning of flooding. This early warning system is used to alert the police and local authorities to any potential flood threat so they can respond if necessary, but it also allows members of the public to access the information via SEPA's 24 hour Floodline information service, on 0845 988 1188 or online at sepa.org.uk/flooding, so local people can have crucial extra time to take action to protect themselves and their property."

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