Angus Council says it plans to explode myths surrounding Storm Babet’s impact on Brechin as the first anniversary of the disaster looms.
This weekend is a year since record-breaking levels in the River South Esk sparked the biggest multi-agency rescue operation ever witnessed in Angus.
Hundreds of people had to be rescued from their homes.
Brechin’s River Street was its epicentre, but the storm caused widespread devastation in other communities.
Council social media post
The council said: “As we near the anniversary of the terrible Storm Babet, we want to reassure the community of Brechin by putting to rest some long running theories about the flood defence scheme, the response and the future of flooding in Brechin.”
In a ‘Flooding Facts’ post on X it said the theory Brechin’s £16m flood protection scheme had failed during Babet was false.
The River Street project was one of of the largest civil engineering schemes completed in Angus when it opened in 2016.
The council said: “The current flood prevention scheme operated to the level it was designed to take – to 3.7 metres over normal levels.
“Storm Babet reached 4.6m over normal levels, so the scheme worked, but was simply overwhelmed by the most serious flooding ever recorded in that area.”
The Courier charted the rapid rise of the River South Esk during Storm Babet.
And in February we revealed engineers had found the flood defences to be in “good condition”.
They were originally built to withstand a one-in-200-year flood event.
An old wall wing leading to Brechin Bridge, which was not part of the defences, collapsed.
But it led to questions over the flood wall’s suitability after being over-topped in the space of less than a decade.
An interim report on Brechin’s recovery from Storm Babet is due to go before councillors next month.
However, authority chief executive Kathryn Lindsay previously warned it will not provide definitive answers on plans around areas such as the future of dozens of council houses which remain unoccupied.
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