Wed 30/12/15 9:05am - River Dee near Old Line Road

Walking along the Old Line path I was able to capture this video of the river.  You can see that the Dee has burst the bank on the far side and the water is flowing between the trees.

9.04am

Still Image:

9:12am

 

Wed 30/12/2015 - 8.28am - Ballater Village Green

Water was beginning to pool on the village green by Glenmuick Church.  You can see part of the Ballater Community Nativity - nativity figures carved by chainsaw by Ross MacNeil of Woodland Thinnings Ltd.

Ballater - Flood Risk Management Strategy

I came across an interesting document which details the flood risk to Ballater.  Part of the document is about carrying out a study and developing flood protection.

The development of flood protection works following the study would potentially reduce risk to 422 people. A reduction in flood risk would have a positive benefit to the health and wellbeing of the community and socially vulnerable people. The caravan park, two emergency services and two utility sites (one energy/electricity site and one telecommunications site) could benefit from future flood protection works depending on the location and extent of works confirmed in the study.

Source: Flood Risk Management StrategyNorth East (23.1MB PDF) 

 

Wednesday 30/12/2015 8.08am - Ballater - River Dee by Cornellan Square

Venturing down towards the caravan park, I stopped by the reception centre.  It was so dark, you could not see much at all but you could hear the roar of the river.   Decided it was unwise to proceed any nearer the river Dee via this route.   Went back through to Bridge Street and on to The Royal Bridge.

It was still very dark.  In this picture you can make out the wall and house on the right which is part of the Cornellan Square development.

Walking up to the steps that usually lead to the riverside path, the water could be seen lapping the third step from the top.

Wednesday 30/12/2015 7.58am - Anderson Road

Heading towards Ballater caravan park I came along Anderson Road, where a resident had taken some precaution against flood water by using sandbags to barricade their front garde gate.

Wednesday 30th Dec 2015 - 7.50am - Dee Street / Dee Bank Road

Walking in to town I headed for Dee Street and found that the water had come up Dee Street further than usual.   It was at the junction with Dee Bank Road.

Tuesday 29th December - 8.20pm

Flood warnings had been appearing for a few days but the one at 8.20pm on 29/12/2015 is the one I remember seeing.

https://twitter.com/FloodAlerts/status/681944691277979649 

The river in flood can be an exciting thing, so I made a plan to get up early and take a look around.  Previously flooding has occurred to some parts of the golf course, caravan park and roads very near the river such as Dee Street.  On 11th August 2014 it was severe enough for 150 people to be evacuated from Ballater Caravan Park. (Source)  I did not expect it to be that bad, or indeed as bad a flood as it turned out to be.  I had expected the river to be fairly wild which can make for some dramatic photos of Ballater bridge.

Introduction - Ballater Flooding 30 December 2015

I arrived at my mum and stepdads home in Ballater on Christmas eve (24 Dec 2015) like I have done for the past few years since they moved to Ballater, Aberdeenshire from Fleet, Hampshire.

Unlike previous years, Christmas 2015 turned out to be a devastating time for many residents in Ballater and the aim of this blog is to give a timeline of the events of the flood on 30th December from my personal perspective by using images and video taken on that day.