By David Clegg

ROADS, BUSINESSES and shops in Dundee ground to a halt last night as what one senior firefighter described as the worst flooding he had ever seen hit the city.

And rail services between the city and Aberdeen were suspended, causing chaos for commuters.

Heavy rain led firstly to a landslip near Stonehaven but, as the successful operation to clear that was being completed, a stretch of track between Arbroath and Montrose was hit by flooding, leading to the closure of the line.

For travellers, it meant journeys by coach in both directions and Network Rail engineers continued to battle into last night to clear the floodwaters and inspect the affected line for damage.

The problems began just after 4pm when the landslide occurred at Carmont, near Stonehaven.

Services were immediately stopped in both directions as the track was cleared.

Following an inspection by engineers the track between Montrose and Stonehaven was reopened at around 7.30pm, with trains travelling at slow speed over the affected section.

“The cause of the landslip has yet to be confirmed, but there had been heavy rain and a lot of groundwater in that area,” said Nick King of Network Rail.

The problems were compounded by flooding on the line at Inverkeilor, resulting in the line being blocked just after 6pm.

A 200-foot section of track was submerged, by as much as four feet in places.

“Engineers are on site in an effort to decide how best to get the standing water from the track area—maybe a question of pumping it off,” added the spokesman.

Network Rail said replacement services would be operating until the end of last night’s timetable and it was almost certain that the focus would be on resuming a normal programme today.

A combination of torrential rain and a high tide caused drains in Dundee city centre to overflow, closing roads and meaning basement toilets in numerous premises spewed sewage.

The flooding caused major delays for motorists, closed pubs and other businesses and gave Tayside Fire and Rescue one of its busiest nights in living memory.

Group manager Stewart Edgar last night told The Courier it was the worst flooding he had seen.

“We have had a very, very busy night indeed,” he said.

“From around about 5.30pm we started receiving a lot of calls about flooding in the Dundee city centre area.

“In all my time working as a fire fighter it is the most flooding I can remember.”

He said the around three feet of water was on the road at Taits Lane and Dock Street causing chaos for surrounding motorists and residents.

“People were stranded in their cars and in their properties.

“Cars in the Candle Lane underground car park have all been badly damaged,” Mr Edgar added.

However, the rescue service was prepared as information from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Met Office warned that the rain would coincide with the high tide.

“Our first task was to make sure there was no life risk,” said Mr Edgar.

“We were waiting for this and as such we were able to make sure we were strategically deployed and that has worked very well.”

Mr Edgar continued, “Initially there was nothing we could do because there was just so much water and we had nowhere to pump it.

“But we have worked very hard all night to get things back to normal.”

The worst of the flooding in the city centre was in the Seagate, Commercial Street and Meadowside areas and more than 20 premises reported flooding to Tayside Fire and Rescue.

“Firefighters were brought in from Dundee, Perth and Forfar to deal with this and more than 20 premises have had water pumped out,” said Mr Edgar.

“As far as flooding is concerned it was the busiest night I can remember.”

Craft and arts store Burns & Harris on Commercial Street was one business badly affected by the flooding.

Owner Robert Burns said the basement toilet in his premises began to overflow just before 5.30pm.

“It started to come out through the toilet and just kept coming. We tried to block our toilets up to stop it coming through, which was not a pleasant task.

“But we were still left with about three inches of water on the stockroom floor.

“Luckily there has been minimal damage to stock and there is no major damage to the property.

“It is the inadequate sewage system that is at fault without question. It has come through the toilet so that has got to be what it is.”

Karen Smith Hair Studio, on Commercial Street, was also forced to close early.

“One of the girls came running up and said that the downstairs was flooded,” said owner Ms Smith.

“I went down to look and it was like a river flowing through it coming from our toilet. At its worst it was coming right up to my knees.

“We were all walking through it in our bare feet but when we spoke to the fire brigade they told us to stay out of it because it was contaminated water.

“I have had trouble with flooding in the past but this was by far the worst.”

The Lowdown Bar and Capitol were also forced to close their doors for business, while other premises known to have been hit by flooding include Blacks, the Bollywood Buffet, Neil Cuthbert & Partners Opticians and the Discovery Fish & Pizza Bar.

Meanwhile, the flooding also caused chaos on the city’s roads with Seagate, Trades Lane and East Dock Street all closed to traffic at the peak of the problem.

Other streets, such as Dens Road, were also badly hit.

A Dundee motorist who has lived in the city for 47 years said he had never seen anything like it.

The driver successfully negotiated Dens Road but only by crawling through pools of water more than a foot deep in places.

He said, “A drain in the middle of the road just outside Dens Park was overflowing and water was spurting about two feet into the air.

“Water was cascading down the road and pavements and people were standing at the side braving the rain just so they could capture what was happening on their mobile phones.

“All the cars were taking it very slowly as there’s no way you want water spraying into your engine compartment.

“That gave me the chance to look around and there were people standing at the doors of their ground floor flats on the south side of Dens Road with the water just an inch below their feet.

“For much of Dens Road it was just like driving through a river. There were a couple of spots where I had second thoughts about going into a pool of water as I wasn’t sure I’d make it out the other side.

“I was also keeping an eye on the inside of my car as well just in case water started to seep in.”

Only Trades Lane remained closed as of late last night.