Council will 'continue maintenance as scheduled' following Aberlour flood
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MORAY Council will stick to scheduled maintenance plans after flash flooding "overwhelmed" areas of Aberlour, a spokesperson has confirmed.
Floods hit village homes, gardens, garages and community spaces this week, and residents argued that drains and culverts had not been maintained, and that long-term change was required.
However, the Council spokesperson said Aberlour's flood defences are "maintained regularly" and recent culvert inspections showed "no major defects".
The areas hit earlier this week were "outwith the scheme", the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson said: “The areas covered by the flood scheme in Aberlour are maintained regularly.
"A number of areas affected by flash flooding this week were outwith the scheme and due to the speed of the downpours were overwhelmed.
"Due to the nature of flash flooding it’s not always possible to mitigate the effects immediately.
"When the culverts were last surveyed there were no major defects and we’ll continue our maintenance as scheduled.”
It is understood that planned Council investigations into Aberlour's flood defences, detailed in the November 2022's Findhorn Nairn and Speyside Flood Risk Management Plan, are ongoing and will be completed by the end of the year.
Residents have also been directed to Moray Council's Property Resilience Product Scheme, which offers flood defence products at cost price.
Aberlour resident Charlotte Kirkbride, speaking the day after the May 10 flood, said she had seen first-hand that drains were not in a good state.
She said: "It's just awful.
"Anything that will prevent something like this happening again needs to be done.
"Going up the road past Fairy Knowe, all the drains are full of silt and dirt.
"So it just flows straight down the road.
"That is twice in two years, so it's only a matter of time before it happens again."
