Tillicoultry begins to recover from shock flash flooding

What started out as a manageable rise in the water level of a local burn rapidly escalated into an uncontrollable surge of floodwater that hit the town late on Tuesday evening (Aug 4).

That morning, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) warned heavy rain forecast that day could lead to flooding across parts of Scotland – including the Wee County.

And, as is standard protocol, local flood group Tideco swung into action across Tillicoultry, Coalsnaughton and Devonside.

A lot of their work concentrated on the area around Tillicoultry Burn: a stream travelling down the Ochil Hills and through the town, running parallel to Upper and Lower Mill Street before joining the River Devon.

Group member Gail Walker told the Advertiser: "We were called at probably about quarter to three in the afternoon, and for three hours we deployed flood sacks, notified a lot of properties that there could be an issue, saying to watch out.

"That takes us from three until six, by which time it looked like the burn was going down.

"We went home to get changed and something to eat – most of us were soaking.

"And I got a call at quarter to seven saying the situation has changed quite dramatically, and that the burn was no longer able to contain the water coming down from Tilly Glen."

After quickly returning to the burn, Gail found everything was "completely different".

She said: "There was huge amounts of water flowing across the road in Lower Mill Street and Hareburn Road.

"The water was deepening by the minute; people were stuck in their properties.

"This was beyond our capability as volunteers, and we needed to get fire and rescue."

After making a 999 call, emergency services responded rapidly. Gail said: "Tilly Fire and Rescue Service came round.

"They called in two dinghies, and they were used to get people out of their properties."

Indeed, 19 properties were contacted and asked to evacuate as a precaution; two wished to remain in upper flats, but the rest were moved to the Ben Cleuch Centre.

"The situation became very serious, very quickly," Gail said.

"Police were on the scene directing traffic, and the council's field officer and emergency response officer were also there to coordinate things from an official capacity."

All the while, the situation became worse and worse as the water continued to pour down Tilly Burn.

Gail said: "It looked like something had happened up the glen, because the water was black, and you could hear boulders being thrown down the burn.

"It was apocalyptic; tree roots coming down, tree trunks coming down, walkways coming down."

Ewart McAuslane, the area's community council representative on Tideco, agreed with Gail that the cause of the flood was something upstream – such as a naturally-formed dam collapsing.

He said: "The feeling is that something failed up Tilly Glen, causing the surge."

And when that surge came, neither volunteers nor the flood defences already in place could cope with the sheer volume of water pouring into Tilly.

He said: "There comes a point where we [volunteers] have to step aside and let the professionals in, and that's what happened."

By the time the water levels were back under control, the scale of the damage was clear.

Water and silt had to be cleared out of houses, diggers were deployed to shift mud off of roads, and machinery was also used to dislodge huge chunks of debris from under bridges.

A 15ft section of path in Tilly Glen was even washed away, and the council has since advised everyone to avoid that area due to the "significant risk" to people's safety.

And disruption to roads in the area lasted for several days in the aftermath of the flood, which Gail said was "one of the worst" to hit the area for years.

Looking ahead, she claimed work needs to be done to help prevent other devastating flash floods from happening in future.

This includes increasing flood defences, and restricting future developments in the area to ensure floodplains are maintained.

Helpfully, Clackmannanshire Council submitted a proposal to Sepa last year for a flood protection scheme in the area which would reduce the risks of flooding.

And work remains ongoing to support those affected by the most recent incident.

A council spokesperson said: "Council officers from a number of services have been on site during and since the flooding and continue working to clean up and assist residents in accessing their houses and assessing any damage.

"The council has provided additional sandbags for protection at key areas so communities can respond and react immediately if there are any further incidents.

"The council also enabled the Scottish Flood Forum (SFF), an independent charity [supporting] people affected by flooding to be available at the Ben Cleuch centre to give help and advice to local people.

"SFF will be there again this Thursday (Aug 13) to support the community."