Action needed to solve flooding problems at Academy Park

Aug 20 2008 by Judith Tonner, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

ACADEMY Park residents have told how they were trapped inside their homes as nearby Broomknoll Street flooded twice on successive afternoons.

Several expressed concern that medics would have been unable to reach them in an emergency, and now householder Alan McPherson is calling for action to solve the perennial problem.

He said: “North Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Water and the railway authorities need to get together to tackle the situation because this area floods a lot more frequently now, especially now that there are more and more new houses in the area.

“The flood waters bring raw sewage into the street which is a real concern, especially with there being a primary school there – if the term had started when this happened, the children would have been trapped.

“I’ve previously contacted the council, Scottish Water and John Reid MP; they’ve all looked into it and had a big site meeting when this happened last year, but now they really need to work together and ensure the problem is solved.

“There are antiquated Victorian drains under here and what’s needed is a storm interceptor, a tank which holds the excess water underground and then lets it drain away gradually.

“It hits the headlines when there’s such a serious flood, but it can happen two or three times a week and then clears away within 15 minutes – there have been times when we’ve been unable to get to work because there’s no other way out and you’ll wreck your car if you try to drive through.”

William Haley, who has lived in the Airdrie street for 21 years, called last week’s torrential downpours “the heaviest I’ve ever seen”.

He said: “It’s the first time I’ve seen the fire brigade use a rescue boat – I saw them rescue a lady and a young girl, and I think they had to help a lorry driver out as well.

“I was looking after my grandchildren and I actually had to hand them and all their things over the fence to their father as he couldn’t get in to collect them because the street was filled a third of the way up with water.

“Some teenage boys actually went out into the water in a dinghy, even though we told them it was sewer water.

“There was also a man up here doing a survey and he had to leave his car overnight because he just couldn’t get back out.”

Neighbour Ramsay Sproule said: “I know there’s been a long-running issue between the council, water board and railway regarding the drains here, but this was by far the worst flooding I’ve seen, just horrendous.

“My concern is that there’s an elderly gentleman living here with a heart condition, and I don’t know how emergency services would possibly have got in had anything happened.

“After half an hour of rain it was three or four feet deep, with three fire appliances outside and people trapped in their cars.

“Eventually I had to go round the school playground and climb over the fence to a dry spot on Cairnhill Road to get out because I couldn’t possibly have waded through.

“I was able to do that as I’m fit and able-bodied, but an elderly or disabled person would have been trapped.”

Neighbour Jane McGlade echoed his concerns, saying: “I was looking after my granddaughter, who has a heart problem – if anything happened an ambulance wouldn’t have been able to reach us because we had no access to the road.

“My husband was stuck for three-quarters of an hour trying to get home because Dundyvan Road was flooded too, and my neighbour, who phoned from work to see what was happening, ended up staying overnight with a friend in Glasgow.

“This happens every time it rains because these are 150-year-old houses with Victorian drainage, but I’ve never seen the fire brigade have to use a rescue boat here before.”