Stonehaven flooding: Relief as flood defences keep water at bay

For years businesses in Stonehaven have been among the worst-hit by flooding during periods of heavy rain.

But despite a weekend of torrential downpours, new flood defences in the Aberdeenshire town appear to have kept the water at bay.

More than 50mm (2in) of rain fell on the town on Saturday - almost half the average rainfall for October.

And although the level of the River Carron rose to a high of almost 1.4m, the defences proved effective.

Murray Watson, owner of the Carron Fish Bar, said he has been repeatedly flooded in the past.

"Five or six times we've come in, it's kind of heart-breaking to open the door, walk downstairs to the basement and your freezer's floating by you and your stock's there and you're closed for the day," he said.

The new defences - built to protect homes and businesses around the River Carron - have saved him "a lot of money and a lot of hassle".

Work on the project began in March 2019 but its completion was delayed by revisions to the design and construction and phases.

It was finally completed in August.

"It's taken a long time for them to be completed but the last couple of days have shown it has been worthwhile for us," Mr Watson explained.

"Personally it's saved us a lot of money and a lot of hassle."

He added: "You can't control Mother Nature but we now seem to have a little bit of help there to hopefully keep that from happening again.

"We feel a bit more confident, hopefully this will settle things down. Hopefully we'll now see the benefit."

Bob Michie, manager of Stonehaven Pet Shop, said flooding had been an issue for many years.

"The first one [flood] was 2009 I think, we were taken out [of the shop] in a boat," he recalled.

"The next one was just as bad."

Of the weekend's impact of the flood defences, he said: "Everything appeared to work, it was a good test for it anyway."

Aberdeenshire Council said the reduction of flood risk offered by the scheme included more than 370 residential properties.

The local authority described it as a "much-anticipated" project.

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