flooding

RAFT urgently seeking new members

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Our local volunteer flood defence team, RAFT (Resilient Alyth Flood Team), is looking for a new leader and communication officer, as well as more volunteers to help the community be more aware of and prepared for future flood events.

As reported in the February issue of the Alyth Voice, team leader Grant Train and communications officer Laura Rodger have stepped down from their posts after several years during which they and the rest of the team have established RAFT as a model of local flood defence volunteering in Scotland.

RAFT was in 2022 as Scotland’s first volunteer team in Scotland to pioneer a proactive training and drilling approach to addressing flooding risk within our community. The team works with the community and other bodies to help local people be prepared for the impact of flooding, and during extreme weather events they are always on hand to defend against floodwaters.  

RAFT has a detailed flood plan for Alyth and is trained and equipped to provide advice and assistance to property owners whose homes and businesses lie in the path of rising waters.  The plan includes emergency protocols and systems which ensure that help such as first-aid, water safety advice and rescue procedures can be delivered quickly and efficiently.  It was developed with advice from and in partnership with the Scottish Flood Forum and is shared with other agencies such as Scottish Fire & Rescue and Perth & Kinross Council.

See the RAFT website for the full job descriptions, the Alyth Flood Plan, and more information.

Flood Team Communications Officer needed

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The new retained flood team for Alyth (AFT), whose members will serve as trained volunteers in an actual flood, needs a dedicated Communications Officer – could it be you?

The Flood Team works with advice and support from Scottish Flood Forum and funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. They will be trained to operate independently when required during a flood, similar to Alyth’s Fire Team during a fire, collaborating with ACSG, ADT and others on day-to-day issues at other times.

The Comms Officer will have particular responsibility for creating clear messaging for emergency and non-emergency communication with the general public, as well as maintaining up-to-the-minute communication with the Flood Team and other organisations and groups while a flood is in progress. Click on the image below or download the full details here.

Could you be part of the new Retained Flood Team?

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There’s still time to apply to join the new retained flood team for Alyth (AFT), whose members will serve as trained volunteers in an actual flood working with advice and support from Scottish Flood Forum and funding from the National Lottery Community Fund.

The AFT will be trained to operate independently when required during a flood, similar to Alyth’s Fire Team during a fire. They will collaborate with ACSG, ADT and others on day-to-day issues at other times. All of this will be repeatedly publicised throughout the town so that everyone knows what happens when the water rises. Click on the image below left or download the full details here.

As well as team members, we’re also recruiting for a dedicated Communications Officer, responsible for creating clear messaging for emergency and non-emergency communication with the general public, as well as maintaining up to the minute communication with the flood team and other organisations and groups while a flood is in progress. Click on the image below right or download the full details here.

New funding to strengthen flood response

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The 2015 floods

ADT has secured almost £10,000 from the National Lottery’s “Together for Our Planet” Fund to help Alyth defend against future floods.

The money will be used to help set up a permanent Flood Resilience Team organised on a voluntary ‘retained’ basis, similar to the retained emergency teams operated by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in many small towns and villages including Alyth.  

We already have a volunteer flood response team with a coordinator in place, working through the Alyth Community Support Group, which has proved its worth several times over the years.  The team will continue to work as volunteers as in the past, and the new funding will pay for drills and mandatory training in partnership with the Scottish Flood Forum.  This will gave Alyth a strengthened and properly constituted independent flood team that recruits locally.

As anyone living in Alyth knows only too well, flooding is a very serious issue – the town has endured three major floods, each supposedly a “once-in-100-years” event, in the last four years alone, with some catastrophic results.

A lot of work has already been done on tackling flooding, by ADT and ACSG alongside the Scottish Flood Forum, Perth & Kinross Council, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and other organisations.  The new funding will allow much more to be done, much more quickly.  This is very much a pilot project for all of Scotland, and ADT/ACSG plan to bring together all interested parties this month to discuss and develop a detailed strategy.

#NationalLottery  #OneStepGreener

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