Flood update as at 12:15PM  on Wednesday 21 August

There are currently six flood warnings in place for Orkney, issued by SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency).

The warnings are for:

•     St Margarets Hope
•     Burray and Ayre of Cara
•     Stromness 
•     Westray
•     Sanday
•     Longhope and Hoy

The warnings are for coastal flooding at and around the high tides tonight (high tide peaks at around 11:15pm). 

You can find full details on each warning and maps on the SEPA website https://floodline.sepa.org.uk/floodupdates/

The Council’s Roads team has sandbags available for residents at risk of tidal flooding at Cromarty Square in St Margarets Hope, Burray Pier, and the Councils’ Garson depot in Stromness.

Please bear in mind the sandbags are for the use of householders at risk of tidal flooding - they are an important emergency resource so we’d urge folks to be mindful of this and only take what they need.

We have also rolled out the flood gates at the Kirkwall waterfront this morning as a precaution, as forecasts are quite close to the thresholds that would usually trigger the gates being deployed. This means vehicles left in the West Waterfront car park will not be able to get in and out, and access to and from Kirkwall Pier and the wider harbour area may also be affected.

For more information about flooding including what to do before, during and after a flood, head to www.orkney.gov.uk/flooding