Severe flood warning issued for Aviemore area of Highlandson October 8, 2023 at 1:41 pm

A severe flood warning has been issued for the Aviemore area of the Highlands.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) says flooding is expected to affect properties and businesses around the village of Dalfaber.

An Amber rain warning is still in place until 14:00 for some parts of the Highlands and north east of Scotland.

Experts are due to begin assessing the condition of the A83 after seven landslips blocked the vital road to Argyll and the Inner Hebrides.

Hours of heavy and persistent rain on Friday and Saturday dumped water and soil along the length of the route.

Ten people had to be airlifted from their cars at the height of the bad weather.

Sepa also has 52 flood warnings and 11 flood alerts in place.

The Amber weather warning – meaning a potential risk to life and property – covers parts of Angus, Perth and Kinross, Aberdeenshire, Moray and Highland.

Police said there had been no reports of injuries but they were treating the persistent heavy rain in parts of the west of Scotland as a “major incident”.

Vincent Fitzsimons, Sepa’s flood duty manager, said: “It’s been a rough weekend across Scotland, with severe weather causing widespread travel disruption to road and rail networks and impacts in communities from Greenock to Aviemore.

“Our teams have been working around the clock with Scottish government and the Met Office in the lead into and across this major weather event. We have been issuing alerts and warnings to communities at risk and supporting first responders.

“Today the focus continues to turn to communities across the north, with a particular concern for severe flood impacts to communities along the Spey and Tay rivers. It’s a day to stay alert, not stand down. The risk to life remains.

“We’ll be issuing further updates across the day to communities across northern Scotland and our advice remains for people to keep up to date with information from sepa.org.uk and follow guidance from emergency services.”

On Saturday no cross border trains ran and ScotRail cancelled dozens of services and also cut short its scheduled timetable.

The operator warned that there would be further disruption on Sunday.

Road maintenance agencies said that conditions in the Argyll area were “challenging” and it was too dangerous to assess the A83 landslips on Saturday.

A statement from Bear Scotland said the road would remain closed at the Rest and Be Thankful section, while inspections take place.

It said: “There have been seven identified landslips on the A83, including several at the Rest and Be Thankful.

“Road closures are in place between Inveraray and Tarbet due to landslides both sides of Dunoon junction. The hard closure point is at Ardgarten, with road closed ahead at Tarbet.

“The usual diversion via A819/A85/A82 at A85 Dalmally is also currently closed due to flooding.”

The A83 has proven especially vulnerable to landslips and closures and in recent years calls have grown for a permanent solution to make the road more resilient to bad weather.

At almost 100 miles (161km) long, the road connects the Mull of Kintyre and southern Argyll to the shores of Loch Lomond. About 1.3 million vehicles use the route every year.

The closures can leave motorists facing long detours while the route is cleared.

Transport Scotland is planning to build a mile-long open-sided tunnel on the road, on the mountain pass known as the Rest and Be Thankful. The project is expected to cost up to £470m.

It is not yet known what effect the latest landslips will have on these plans.

Posting on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, the former Argyll MSP Michael Russell said: “The amount and rate of rainfall here in Argyll & Bute in the last 24 hours has been astonishing.

“However, that aside it is concerning that slips are on this stretch which is not the area where most of the major problems have previously occurred.”

Bear Scotland said: “We are working as part of the Argyll and Bute Resilience Partnership to assess road closures and incidents in the area.

“This is an evolving situation, and our Bear teams are on site attending landslide locations, but it is currently not safe to commence any clean-up operations.

“More details will be available after inspections take place.”

The Scottish government said on Saturday that health and social staff in Argyll were working with community groups to reach vulnerable people who may need help and the local council would be offering support such as opening up community halls.

The Met Office said that over the weekend areas of the Highlands and central Scotland could see up to 180mm (7in) of rain – for some that would amount to a typical month’s worth.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has issued 48 flood warnings and 17 flood alerts.

It said affected areas included Angus, Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, and parts of the Highlands, north-east Scotland and the Scottish Borders.