The Alness Flood of October 2006

After a series of storms and progressively rising spates during October 2006, the 'big one' arrived on the 26th! Water levels in the town of Alness peaked at 2.8m (about 8ft above summer low), the highest level on record since 1973 (and possibly back to the 1950s), and the flow rate was over 200 times normal summer low! There was local flooding throughout Easter Ross and the North East Highlands. To make matters worse, a short-lived hurricane came through during the evening of the 25th. 70mph winds brought down hundreds of trees locally, blocking some of our fishing access tracks and many roads. Fortunately, there were just a few days to go until the end of the season, and by the 28th we were back fishing on the upper beats at least!

Aggie's Bridge, Novar Beat 5

Here are a few photos showing the river in spate and its aftermath. The spate photos were taken just an hour or so after the river level peaked. Photos of the damage to access roads and infrastructure were taken on the 2nd November.