Edinburgh flooding: Bespoke kitchen supplier's stock likely to be 'uninsurable' due to floods amid concerns about drainage 'plug' - and business owner now 'lives in fear' of torrential rain

Gus Riddle says major floods - earlier this month and in June 2019 - at a distribution warehouse they use in Granton have resulted in claims of £78,000 and up to £60,000 respectively for ruined goods, as well as lost time and money not fitting kitchens for clients.

He believes a major factor is the design of a metal grill covering a rainwater outlet at the sea wall, located about 50 yards away, which he says essentially becomes a "plug" when debris collects there and causes water to back up during very heavy rain.

Despite dozens of calls to Scottish Water about the issue over the past 14 months, it is yet to be fixed – and a yellow ‘be aware’ warning for rain is in place for Edinburgh all day on Tuesday.

However, Scottish Water have confirmed they plan to fit a new grill which should reduce blockages during wet weather and are looking to install a warning system in the sewer network to analyse how it operates when it nears capacity.

Mr Riddle says he is also planning to seal and further raise the floor of the warehouse where the kitchen units are stored to about 18 inches, in a bid to prevent more flooding.

‘Demoralizing’

He said: "The advice from our insurance broker is that it's highly unlikely we will be able to insure for the next flood because this will be our second claim. A £10,000 excess is already coming straight out for this flood.

"The fix they (Scottish Water) have come up with can not be tested until there is a biblical amount of water coming down. It may or may not deal with the backfilling issue. They have had 14 months to do something and we might not have been facing this claim and all the misery we are going through now, and facing being uninsurable.

"It's just been very demoralizing and massively time consuming for which you don't get paid."

Video footage taken by his business colleague also shows the rainwater outlet in question the Wednesday morning after the latest floods in the Capital, which hit a number of other businesses including an apartment hotel and bathroom supply business in Canonmills.

Mr Riddle acknowledged they are effectively living in fear of what might happen whenever heavy rain is forecast.

The 57-year-old added: "The other week I was on holiday and was not all that far away and I just thought, 'I should be down in Granton watching this grill."

He says a former warehouse across the road which has been demolished, leaving only concrete pads, may also be a factor in the warehouse flooding because more water now flows onto the road than it would have done previously.

A Scottish Water spokeswoman said: “We believe a new grill at the surface water outfall near the premises will help reduce flooding and plan to fit this very soon. This should reduce blockages during wet weather. We are also looking at installing new equipment to measure the flow of water in the sewer network there which would set off a warning if it was close to capacity and also help us analyse how the system is performing.

“We also believe there are other factors which may have contributed to the internal flooding, including the road drainage design, which is not our responsibility.

“Many parts of Scotland recently experienced extreme rainfall, including Edinburgh, and we know this premises was again subject to flooding. We will continue to inform this business owner of what we are planning to do to resolve this issue as quickly as we can and have apologised to him."

Mr Riddle’s business is based in Leith but they lease a distribution warehouse in Granton’s West Harbour Road.

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