Flooding of the Lade - 12th January 2007

Following heavy rain, the culverts along the Stirling Road rapidly fill. Flood debris, branches and rubbish may block the narrow tunnel under the main road.

The path alongside  the Covenanter petrol station (left)  is nearly under water and the culverts under the Stirling Road are full to the brim.

 

Full culverts at the south side of the Stirling Road can just about cope with the runoff at the moment, as long as they are not blocked by debris.

The Curling pond flooding onto the path - a good two feet above the usual level. Cavalry Park is just to the right of this picture.

Massive flows from the Colzium burn force the water along the Lade* in both directions. The water reverses its flow, pushing back upstream along the Lade.

The result is inevitable. Something has to give.

*The Lade is the canal that takes water from the Garrel burn to the Banton Loch along a contour line, to feed the Forth and Clyde canal. It is 250 years old.

A thirty five metre section of the Lade bank was overwhelmed at this point by a wall of water pushing in both directions.

Just an hour previously this section was impassable.

A waterfall torrent pours down onto Cavalry Park below.

The bridges over the Lade are barely able to cope with the increased flow.

Blockages are caused to bridges by flood debris and raised water levels - this bridge over the Lade to Colzium House was lucky to survive the onslaught!

Flood debris and masses of white water washed over onto Cavalry Park at this point over a 35 metre section of embankment.

Wimpey Homes have recently submitted plans to put houses directly in the path of that wall of water. But we don't suppose the Estate Agents brochure will include this picture!

Notes:

Also see: Kilsyth Chronicle article

(1) Disastrous floods causing major landslides have been seen before in Kilsyth, and in similar locations e.g. at Lynmouth and Boscastle in 2004. The extent of the alluvial fans of boulders at the bottom ends of the Colzium and Garrell glens bear witness to the effects of many similar events since the last ice age:

“In the year 1738, on the 27th of June, a very remarkable thunder storm took place. The morning was fair, the sky clear, the sun bright. About eleven a.m. a gleamy kind of darkness overspread the sky; a water-spout seems to have fallen; numberless torrents poured from the hills, sweeping houses, bridges, corn, and cattle all before them. Several acres in the valley were covered with stones of all sizes, from 20 tons to small gravel; in some places, from 4 to 6 feet deep”. (New Statistical Account 1841)

“In the year 1832, June 14th, we were visited with a similar waterspout and thunder storm, with hail, and torrents of rain. For two hours, the storm was truly terrific, and threatened awful devastation”. (New Statistical Account 1841)

November 1953: “Stirling County Council decided to seek compensation from the British Transport Commission, owners of the Forth and Clyde Canal, following heavy flooding at the temporary school in Stirling Rd., Kilsyth. A canal feeder from Banton Loch overflowed following heavy rain. The school was evacuated. Even the sewage system broke down. A second downpour flooded the town centre”. (Kilsyth Chronicle, Nov 1953)

The topography of the valley means that violent and sudden flooding of Cavalry Park with downstream displacement to the centre of Kilsyth is inevitable if the Lade (the canal feeder) becomes overwhelmed. There is certainly no defence possible against the thunderstorm of 1738 apart from leaving the valley bottom well alone or building massive new flood culverts, and the uncertainties of global warming mean that it is only a matter of time before major flooding occurs again.