South Uist flood meeting

Western Isles Council is to hold a consultation meeting about a flood prevention scheme where a family of five drowned when the sea invaded villages.

The public forum will be staged just two working days before a crucial deadline for lodging a funding application.

Archie and Murdina Macpherson perished with their two young children Hannah, 5, and seven-year-old Andrew, as well as Murdina's father, Calum Campbell, when they were overwhelmed by floodwater at Clachan during a severe storm in South Uist in January 2005.

The sea surged into the tidal South Ford estuary between the islands of Benbecula and South Uist.

Comhairle seeks views over South Uist flood prevention scheme

27 April 2015

The rock-filled South Ford causeway acted as a dam forcing seawater to overflow into villages at Iochdar.

Cutting a 250 metre-long sea opening in the causeway to let the sea flow through would have reduced the height of the wall of water during the storm, a council study has found.

By Monday, the Comhairle is due to submit a proposed funding bid for flood prevention measures in the area.

But the application to the Scottish Government fund will not seek money to open up the causeway.

Instead, it includes a plan for a first line of defence by reinforcing the Gualan Island sand barrier at the mouth of the estuary plus repairs to sand dunes.

The council says the causeway project’s estimated £20 million price tag is too expensive and not cost-effective.

At a public meeting to be held in Iochdar hall on Wednesday evening, technical service bosses will point out that the funding rules state the outcomes of all flood prevention schemes exceed the costs.

Any project work must be economically efficient to reduce the likelihood of flood damage occurring in the future.

However, Western Isles Council has agreed to also directly lobby the Scottish Government in an bid to make South Uist an exceptional case.

Despite the council previously acknowledging the community’s stance has been firmly known for some time, a council spokesman said Wednesday’s meeting was arranged as the council is “interested in hearing views from people about possible flood protection schemes appropriate for the South Ford.”