Hansard

Storm Babet has left a terrible trail of destruction in its wake, and the north-east of Scotland, Perthshire and Tayside have been hit especially hard. There was widespread damage to infrastructure, families were evacuated from their homes and, tragically, people lost their lives.

We are joined in the public gallery today by Councillor Gavin Nicol and other residents from Brechin who have been affected by the flooding. It is on that personal level where the real impact of the storm is being felt—by the individuals who have been left to pick up the pieces.

Let me tell you something of those people who fear that their plight might too easily be overlooked, such as those in Milton of Finavon, which I visited last week. Most people in the chamber, or who are watching the debate at home, will not have visited Milton of Finavon, but they will have driven past it. It is a hamlet of 25 homes, and?it is adjacent to?the busy A90 between Forfar and Brechin. That road became one source of flooding from the run-off.

On one side of the village is the Lemno Burn, which is now a river; on the other side is the River South Esk. Both breached their banks during storm Babet, meaning that, in effect, the small village was assaulted from all sides. The effect was devastating, with the River South Esk surging through farmers’ fields, destroying crops and wrecking homes. The devastation was massive and deeply distressing.

I met a family who had only just moved into their home in February, but now all their appliances, their furniture and their kitchen have been destroyed. What is left of their possessions has been bundled into their car while they search for a rental property. Another resident had to leave their home a year ago and was due to move back in last month before being flooded again.?Another?family who were forced from their home by the floodwater faced the additional stress of the temporary accommodation being unable to accommodate their disabled children, who require specialist equipment.

I could go on and on with more?heartbreaking?stories. Sadly, those experiences are common?throughout Angus and beyond. What would help those people now is action to deal with the aftermath of the storm and to mitigate the damage from future storms. Both are issues in their own right, so let me deal with each in turn.

At the outset, I express my admiration for the emergency services and local authority staff who worked incredibly hard, in treacherous conditions and at risk to themselves, to preserve life and support the most vulnerable people in our communities. [Applause.] I also commend the efforts of utilities and other services to restore power systems, repair infrastructure and reopen transport links. However, the question now is about what help will be provided to those who have been affected and who are now trying to rebuild their lives.

I appreciate that the First Minister pledged support during his visit to see the damage in Brechin. It was right that he came to see the town because Brechin was one of the worst affected. Record levels of flooding caused the local river to swell a staggering 4.4m above normal levels, overwhelming the recently installed flood defences and forcing the evacuation of more than 350 properties. Some residents will not be able to return to their homes before Christmas or perhaps later, while others might not be able to return at all.

Although the First Minister pledged support, he did not confirm how much, which was understandable at that stage. However, let me be clear that the storm is one of the costliest weather events in Scottish history, with a repair bill that could hit £500 million. Therefore, it is fair to ask for the detail of how much support will be provided and how long it will be provided for. The people who have been forced out of their homes or who are counting the cost of ruined businesses face months of disruption. Their fear is that the warm words coming from politicians will have no follow-up, and I have already heard such concerns on adaptation measures.

That echoes the Climate Change Committee’s findings last year that progress on climate change adaptation had “stalled”. Flooding was among the worst of the areas that were assessed. To be fair, the Scottish Government has accepted the need to do more, such as the need for better evidence, monitoring and evaluation. I hope that it will show that same willingness today and listen to Opposition calls to take further action to mitigate the risks from future storms. Those risks include damage to infrastructure, transport and energy systems, with the added danger that future incidents of coastal erosion and flooding will become more frequent.

In its Scottish emissions report last December, the CCC pointed out that, compared with 30 years ago, Scotland’s winters have become wetter and the sea level around our coasts has risen between 10mm and 30mm per decade, which is increasingly problematic in places such as Montrose.

October is already the wettest on record for some parts of Scotland with almost 1 foot of rain falling. At the start of the month, we saw extensive flooding across Aviemore, Argyll and Perth, which I am sure that colleagues who represent those areas will discuss in more detail. Then, of course, towards the end of the month, we had storm Babet.

The same CCC report warns:

“Further climate change in Scotland is ... inevitable, no matter how rapidly global greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.”

That does not mean that it is not important to reduce emissions. In fact, it is vital that we do so to avoid even worse climate change effects. However, we must combine our net zero efforts with adaptation measures to protect ourselves from the risks that are already on the horizon.

An obvious start would be to look at development on flood plains. That was not fully developed in the fourth national planning framework and a long-term goal should be to assess the impact of such development.

River basin management should also be reviewed. Back in June, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition stood in the chamber and declared that she had “absolute confidence” in the current plans. That was despite the CCC having pointed out more than a year earlier that there were no adaptation actions in the plan. We can all agree that those plans could do with a review.

We should also keep support options under review to ensure that at-risk properties can still access insurance cover. We can help to reduce insurance costs by thinking about how to make home adaptations easier for people. Alongside that, we should consider where action such as dredging might deliver flood protection benefits that outweigh potential environmental impacts.

We also need to consider what more can be done to support local authorities and partner agencies in the immediate response to such storms. There is the Bellwin scheme to support councils dealing with emergencies, but that is activated against the backdrop of years of cuts from the Scottish Government that have left local authority finances in tatters. Therefore, I hope that ministers will consider our calls for local climate resilience funds to be deployed in the event of severe weather. Ministers could also look at how to improve the provision of emergency and temporary shelters, including those that are suitable for people with disabilities.

At the most basic level, local authorities should have a good supply of sandbags, but I have heard from people on the ground in Angus that they were issued with just two sandbags per property. That is clearly inadequate, and it suggests a need for better co-ordination of the provision of resources to low and high-risk areas during an emergency.