Angus councillors have made a plea for patience as efforts to repair the havoc wreaked by Storm Frank continue.
Members of the council’s communities committee received a run-down of damage caused at the tail end of last year and from all quarters there was praise for the response of staff to the unprecedented events.
The deluge also delivered some staggering statistics, including a £1.4 million emergency response bill, more than 2,500 phone calls over just a few days from flood-hit residents and damage at almost 200 locations across the district including properties, roads and bridges.
The authority also deployed nearly 4,000 sandbags from its Forfar depot, but Montrose councillor Bill Duff has asked for that important line of defence to be more readily available in other parts of the area.
“Could we consider getting a strategic supply of sandbags elsewhere than Forfar?” said Mr Duff.
“If we could look at putting them in local council depots that would be appreciated.”
The committee also agreed to ask for financial assistance under the Bellwin scheme, a UK Government relief fund that was activated by the Scottish Government on December 31.
Communities from Logie in the north to Arbroath in the south, and west to Newtyle were hit by serious flooding on December 30 and January 4 and 7.
At the height of the storms some 30 routes were closed and another 20 were only passable with care, with the main A90 dual carriageway and key A routes in the county closed at times.
The rains brought a deluge of calls to the council’s ACCESS line, including 1,745 on January 7 a record-breaking tally since the call centre came into being in 1999.
Communities convener Donald Morrison said: “We are still cleaning up in the aftermath of the storms and that will take time.
Repeating the praise for staff which was made in the immediate aftermath, Mr Morrison added: “Priority lists have been drawn up and I ask the public to be patient.”