A HEAVY downpour of rain on Saturday left a Cowdenbeath man wondering if the flooding he had experienced the previous week would be repeated.

A very heavy shower at around 11am saw Ian Thomson concerned at what might happen as the road in Mossbank again started to flood.

The road was this time around 80% of the flood compared to the previous situation which saw his garage and office damaged as water poured in. “On this occasion the water did not come down my driveway to my garage, but I still called the council as the drains were supposed to have been cleaned to help deal with such situations and I was worried at what could develop,” he said.

“A council worker came at 11.45 am and by that time the heavy rain had stopped and lighter rain was falling.

“I explained that the drains were meant to have been cleaned last week and some weren’t done. He admitted that this had been the case.

“I spoke him with regard to the long Acko type drains that were installed in 2008 because of this previously happening. He said the problem with these was the council didn’t have the keys to lift the gratings off. This is not a good thing as the one opposite my house is completely full of stuff.”

Ian said that the worker made arrangements to get a pump and it arrived and began cleaning out drain pots, but there were points which concerned him.

He added, “With regards to the drain in front of number 11 Mossbank, there are two pots and one was successfully lifted and sucked out.

“The last pot cover that actually connects to the sewer could not be opened. They struggled. On my inspection afterwards they had sprayed it with yellow, but there is a clear screw that needs to be removed for the cover to open. This was not attempted.

“With regard to the long drain in front of my property at number 13, installed previously to prevent flooding, the covers were not lifted and no visible jetting had taken place.

“Meanwhile the long drain at the bottom of driveway number 26, the covers are non lockable and this drain is full of silt to the top and there are weeds growing out of it. No attempt was made to lift the covers and clean this drain at all.

“Fortunately on this occasion the water did not come down my driveway to my garage although the road was flooding, but I would like something to be done to try and stop this situation keep recurring.

“I would like to think that there is some way they could clear out all the drains to make the system work as it should.”

Fife Council’s lead consultant for Roads Maintenance, Kane Smith, commented: “Unfortunately we were unable to complete the cleaning of the drainage channel in Mossbank last week as promised.

“Our standby attended on Saturday with the gully tanker to assist with the flooding and clean the gullies. When the rain began to ease the threat to property reduced. With limited resources over the weekend we were unable to clear the drainage channel.

“On Monday our gully tanker attended again and cleaned and flushed the drainage channel. There remains an issue with one gully in the street, with the cover being stuck we have been unable to clean the gully.

“We expect this to be resolved later this week when the gully will be cleaned.”