Heavy rain has again caused flooding along the Water of Leith, although so far not on the same scale as in April 2002. Basements on Warriston Crescent and in the Stockbridge Colonies have been affected.
Contractors Lagan had predicted trouble before the weekend, and began clearing plant and materials from the midstream working platforms on Friday. They expected problems in the small hours when the high tide at Leith caused water to back-up further upstream. However, the river reached its peak at around 9am, with 12 cubic metres per second passing in excess of what had been forecast. Arboretum Avenue, Glenogle Road and St Bernard's Row were closed to through traffic..
Apparently there was some damage to properties on Warriston Road close to B&Q (see Reactions on Facebook at foot of page), but worst hit seem to have been basements just downstream from Canonmills Bridge, and Bell Place. One Bell Place resident told Spurtle he had woken at 8am to find 2 feet of water racing past his garden gate. The water had poured into his basement through air vents, filling it to with an inch-and-a-half of the floorboards above.
Like most of those local residents we spoke to, he seemed remarkably sanguine about the situation, even cheerful. His impression was that a temporary flood defence had collapsed under the pressure, but that a more robust replacement installed during the day would cope with likely conditions in future. This seemed to Spurtle a remarkabaly positive response to the stable door being belatedly bolted.
The fire brigade finally left Bell Place at around 4.15pm, officers arguing that the situation no longer constituted an emergency. Lagan staff took over pumping out property closest to the river, although – with equipment limited and Council services at full stretch across the city – it was unclear when or if adjacent buildings would receive the same service.
SEPA flood warnings remain in place today (Sunday) for Warriston and Stockbridge. Updates can be viewed on its website here.
At 9am on Saturday morning, water levels were around 1.5 metres higher than they appear in the sequence of photos below. Even by 4pm, the water was alarmingly high and fast beside Warriston Road ...
Lagan staff were pumping out the works site below the bridge at Warriston Junction.
Downstream of Canonmills Bridge, the flood's high-water mark was clearly visible.
Upstream, flood shutters had been firmly clamped in place.
Not everyone was bothered.
The northern bank opposite Ettrickdale Place was inundated ...
and using the Rocheid Path posed a few problems. One solution was to ascend the steep bank, traverse through sodden thorn bushes, then slide down again out of control on one's bum into a pool of brown, drowned-worm-filled water observed by children and a Border terrier. Spurtle does not recommend this method.
Flattened undergrowth shows the path of the flood.
Water pours from the path beside the Grange cricket pitch, and bubbles up from below a manhole cover on Arboretum Avenue (which was closed to traffic).
The Falshaw Bridge, partially covered earlier in the day, just cleared the surface of the river by late afternoon. Glenogle Road and St Bernard's Row were also closed to traffic.
Too little too late for some in Stockbridge.
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Paul Burgess Well if the residents hadn't spent years objecting to the flood prevention scheme over many years....
Neale Gilhooley No, if the scheme had been finished on time then many homes would not have been affectedn. We had flooding in Warriston Road near to B&Q due to the inadequate temporary measures put in place covering a huge gap in the old wall. All being cleaned up now, but some damage done.