QUESTIONS are being asked of a Scottish council after a key flood gate was left open, leading to huge water damage.
Numerous streets in Perth, surrounding the city's North Inch, flooded after extremely heavy rainfall.
However, despite the Met Office issuing a yellow weather warning on Friday and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) putting out a flood alert for Tayside, Perth and Kinross Council did not close a flood gate leading from the North Inch onto Rose Terrace.
As a result, numerous basement properties flooded.
Initially, in a since edited post on Facebook, the council claimed that flood gates had been closed.
However, one resident questioned why a gate on the North Inch remained open.
The council responded by saying the flood warning came "too late". They said: "There has been a near unprecedented rise in water levels in the Tay overnight and the warning came too late to close the floodgates at the North Inch.
"We apologise for any confusion caused. Floodgates at the harbour and Bridgend have been closed."
Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: "I have been inundated this morning with calls and emails from Perth and Perthshire residents raising concerns about yesterday’s flooding, particularly [the council's] failure to close the North Inch floodgates.
"I see the council have now deleted their claim from yesterday that it was the fault of Sepa for a delay in advising of a storm warning.
"We still need a detailed explanation of what went wrong here, and what will be done to compensate those whose homes and businesses were wrecked as a consequence."
A spokesperson for the council said: “We understand how distressing flooding events are for people and this weekend has been extremely challenging for many people.
“Perth and Kinross, like much of Scotland, has seen extreme amounts of rainfall since Friday and our officers have been supporting our communities and residents affected by flooding, including helping with the evacuation of Aberfeldy Holiday Park on Saturday.
“The rainfall overnight on Saturday led to a rapid and near unprecedented rise in water levels of the Tay which led to the North Inch being flooded before gates could be closed.
“According to SEPA, water levels, rose to 4.90 metres on Sunday morning, near the record level of 4.93m recorded 30 years ago, and more than double the level it was at 24 hours earlier.
“We will be reviewing our response to the incident to see what can be learned for future events. We will also be speaking to residents to hear about their experiences to better understand what happened and the impact on them.
“We are extremely grateful to Community Resilience Groups across Perth and Kinross who assisted residents impacted by flooding over the weekend.
“We are continuing to assist residents affected by flooding across Perth and Kinross and are preparing for further rainfall on Tuesday. We would advise residents to remain vigilant and anyone who requires support should contact us on 01738 476476.
“There is a considerable amount of standing water across Perth and Kinross and we would remind people not to enter or play in water as it can be extremely hazardous.”
A business whose basement flooded on Sunday called for an open inquiry into why the gate was not shut.
Smart and Co surveyors and property consultants posted on social media:
"Our thoughts go out to all the local residents and businesses affected by the flooding.
"Hope there is an open enquiry into why the North Inch floodgate wasn’t shut, lessons need to be learned this can’t happen again."
