The following article in the Guardian showcases the tragedy of flooding.  Having spoken to victims of flooding in Stonehaven, it is clearly absolutely devastating.  There is irreparable damage to much of your possessions and possibly the fabric of your home or business, cleaning up the mess can take months and dealing with insurance companies can dominate your life for a year or more.

Somerset floods: living underwater – in pictures

With climate change, extreme weather and flooding are predicted to be more common.  It is critical that there are resilience plans in places at all levels of government and the local community.  It is positive that Councils in Tayside have worked to ensure community resilience plans are in place.

Angus and Mearns Lib Dems, specifically Councillors and representatives from Stonehaven, introduced a motion at Lib Dem conference, that was passed and adopted as policy, calling for agreement between the Scottish Government and the insurance industry to ensure that victims of flooding are treated fairly and not hit with punitive premium rises.  

I was delighted to support this motion and reassured that it was adopted as Lib Dem policy.

There is still an issue with regard to the Scottish Government formula for funding flood defences.  The current formula is based on a simplistic per-capita basis.  

The Scottish Government provided funding for an early warning system for flooding, which is now available by clicking here for Floodline.

There are also new maps highlighting the areas at risk for flooding throughout Scotland, available by clicking here.

There is therefore the information available needed to target flood defence funding where it is most needed.  Therefore it is sensible that the Scottish Government modify there formula for providing flood defence funding to be based on where it is most needed rather than a simplistic per-capita basis.  We made that call back in 2010, and the suggestion is still valid to ensure flood defence funding is targeted where it is most needed.