Edzell and Letham say plans to develop local resilience centres are more important than ever in the wake of Storm Babet.
Outside Brechin, the two villages were among the hardest hit areas of Angus.
Last week’s disaster came as both communities were already focused on strengthening their resilience against severe weather.
Largest Angus village
Letham is the largest village in Angus with a population of around 2,000.
A meeting to take forward the resilience plan is being held this weekend.
It was scheduled before Babet struck – flooding The Den for the latest time.
Community of Letham Emergency Action Resilience (CLEAR) is behind the idea.
“We are aiming to establish a register of individuals and organisations that, in an emergency could contribute skills, resources, equipment and personnel to assist the community,” said a spokesperson.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Sepa and Angus Council are lined up to take part in the weekend open day.
It takes place in the village hall on Saturday from 10am to 2pm.
Inglis Hall resilience hub
Meanwhile, in Edzell, the A-listed Inglis Hall could become a resilience centre.
Edzell was cut off after the hammering it took from Storm Arwen in 2021.
But the village’s flood defence system stood up to the brunt of Storm Babet.
It was due in no small part to the effective work of the Edzell Flood Group.
The group has been in existence for more than a decade.
Inveresk Community Council chairman Gus Leighton said hard work by villagers saved homes.
Locals cleared drains in the early hours of Friday as the storm peaked.
They had already put barriers out to prevent the risk of flooding from the Wishop Burn.
Mr Leighton said: “By coincidence, I have a meeting on November 2 with (Angus Council depute chief executive) Mark Armstrong, the three ward councillors and others to discuss an improved flood prevention scheme.
“If approved, this will involve some groundworks on Edzell Muir so that more water is held there in the event of a flood.
Mr Leighton said contractor Balfour Beatty had already indicated it is willing to do groundworks for free.
He added: “SSEN just awarded Inveresk Community Council over £6,200 to equip four resilience hubs at Edzell, Lethnot, Inchbare and Little Brechin.
“In Edzell the plan is to use the Inglis Hall.
“These hubs will be designed to shelter people if there is an outage of power of 12 hours or more,” said Mr Leighton.
The 125-year-old hall is one of four facilities in Angus the council hope will become community run.
Angus Alive handed back Inglis Hall, Brechin and Kirriemuir museums and Arbroath community centre to the council in a cost-saivng move.
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