Flood defences deployed at St Marys and St Margarets Hope ahead of high tides

Our roads team spent Thursday this week deploying the flood defences at St Margarets Hope, and later in the day at St Marys also.

We even had two very cute spectators at the Hope -  Robert and Sinclair - who were delighted to see the lorries and crews filling up the floodstops with water.

Sandbags were also put in place for folks to use, and we’ve carried out an additional check and clear of culverts yesterday (and following last night's rain we will be carrying out another check and monitor of the Cromarty Square culvert later today).

Remember, on top of an equinox high tide, we also have a low pressure weather system generating extra 'storm surge' which could see flooding from the sea in Cromarty Square around tomorrow night’s high tide (peak is at around midnight - and it is the highest tide for several months), and possibly through til Monday.

It is forecast that the tide will reach or possibly exceed the flood threshold at the slip near Cromarty Square over the next couple of days.

We’d therefor urge folks with property along Front Road and Back Road to please take advantage of the provided sandbags to help prevent water ingress to your property and up private sea paths and slips.

We’ll also be deploying some flood defences at St Marys this afternoon – again these could be in place til after the weekend.
There's loads of information available on how to improve the flood resilience of your property and how to be prepared, including the Flooding Information page on our website www.orkney.gov.uk/flooding

Check out our facebook post for more photos from the Hope.