Heavy rain triggers landslide and flash flooding in South Kintyre

Phil Day, director of operations at NLB, said: “Members of the public are, however, advised not to attempt to traverse any sections of road affected by the landslide and to comply with restrictions imposed by local authorities or the emergency services.”

Mr Day added that a clean-up timescale could not be advised until a full survey of the affected area is carried out and all interested parties consulted. 

He added that the operation of the lighthouse itself remains unaffected: “Mull of Kintyre Lighthouse is fully automated and monitored remotely. At present, there is no indication that any aids to navigation have been affected by the landslide.”

The heaviest impact of the rainfall was felt most acutely in localised areas, including Kilmichael Farm, where residents described the “worst flood” they had ever seen.

Mary McAulay, who lives in the farmhouse with her family, recalled the speed of the flooding at mid-afternoon on Saturday. 

“The water suddenly crashed in the back door like a small wave and rushed into the kitchen!” she said.

The surge of water overwhelmed all drains, turning the track beside the house into “a raging burn” and flooding the adjacent A83 road, leaving water “over a foot deep at one point”.

Mrs McAulay praised her husband, Zander, whose “quick thinking and fast actions” prevented an extended flood.

“Poor Zander was out soaked to the skin trying to reduce the flooding on the road,” she said. “Eventually he had to dig a channel out the verge to let the water drain into the field and that seemed to do the trick because 10 minutes later, there was only minimal surface water on the road.” 

Although the flood subsided quickly, the family lost bedding and clothing stored in their utility room. 

Despite the loss, Mrs McAulay said her main concern was the road: “Things can be replaced but God forbid there was an accident and someone had got hurt.

“It happened fast but slowed down quite quickly too, thankfully.”

Road maintenance firm BEAR Scotland confirmed it was notified of carriageway flooding at Kilmichael Farm at 4.15pm and deployed an incident support team. 

A spokesperson said: “As the flooding was caused by run off from adjacent land, grips were cut to allow water to drain from the carriageway and warning signage was placed in advance of the locations.”

The Met Office confirmed a yellow weather warning for rain was in place for the Argyll and Bute region at the time. The rain gauge at Machrihanish recorded 44.0mm of rainfall during the 24-hour period on Saturday.

While the rainfall itself was not considered “exceptional” for the region and is not unexpected as the area moves into autumn, the Met Office cautioned that climate change is projected to increase the frequency of “extreme sub-daily rainfall” – greater than 20mm per hour.