A Perth family who were forced to leave their home when it flooded in September are still unable to return home, a meeting to discuss the recurring issues heard.
About 70 local residents affected by flooding in the Craigie Burn area attended a meeting on Saturday, January 28.
Residents shared their experiences and ideas of how to move forward with many calling on authorities to do more.
Samantha Lamond and her family have been out of their Croft Park home since September and have forked out thousands in flood defence measures.
She told those at the meeting: “I’ve shown pictures of the flood damage to companies asking what they can do and when they see the pictures they say they can’t do anything.
Samantha added: “I do not want to put another new kitchen - and bathroom - in. We just put one in two years ago.
“It’s knowing who to ask for help. We’ve just spent £7000 for two doors and a bit of metal.”
One resident said when she phoned Perth and Kinross Council for help she was sent to B&Q.
She said: “I phoned and asked them for sandbags and they told me to go to B&Q and buy my own sandbags. The council should have bags that are more accessible.”
A resident of the retirement housing complex at Millburn Court shared how “at least 30 neighbours were stuck in flats for three or four days” because they could not get out.
He added: “It’s a big problem when people can’t get out of their own homes.”
The meeting was led by Janice Haig and Shelley Jeffrey who were put in touch with each other by the Scottish Flood Forum.
The two have met several times and are keen to see how residents can help each other to take action.
One idea tabled by Janice was to create a Help Your Neighbour group where neighbourhoods look out for each other.
She said: “If you are on holiday a neighbour can do your flood resilience work for you if you are not there.”
Janice and Shelley have also established Perth Community Flood Aid which aims to help residents install flood protection measures which they cannot afford to do themselves.
Residents shared how it was the not knowing how effective such measures would be and sought to come together to share what has worked as well as who to install them.
Queen Street resident John said there also needed to be an “understanding of the impact of works on a property on others”. Concern was raised if one person - for example - built a wall or garage that might have repercussions elsewhere.
Labour activist Tricia Duncan raised health and safety concerns.
She praised Janice, Shelley and others for their action but added: “There is raw sewage pouring into Craigie Burn. What’s missing here is that the authorities have to do something about this. Councillors need to be proactive about doing something.
“Councillors and Scottish Water need to be working together and doing something. It’s not good enough.”
Perth City South councillors Andy Chan (Conservative), Liz Barrett (Liberal Democrats) and Iain MacPherson (SNP) were all in attendance.
After the meeting Janice said: “I’m just really happy that lots of people turned up - just to have so many people here - great start.
“At the last meeting [organised by SNP MP Pete Wishart] a lot of people left saying they had not had a chance to speak. Talking in groups meant they were heard - even in small groups.”
The next stage is to form a committee.
Janice said: “We are looking for people who would want to be involved in the progression of Perth Community Flood Aid as a member of the committee, or part of a wider help list of those willing to distributing leaflets, sharing details of future meetings, etc and in any other way they feel they could offer some expertise.”
Anyone interested can contact the group via their Facebook page or by emailing floodingperth@outlook.com
