Thursday October 2nd 2025
River Esk, Musselburgh
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
Dozens of residents living in a town at risk of flooding were minutes from being evacuated during heavy rain storms, it has been revealed.
A meeting of East Lothian Council was told officers were on the verge of launching the emergency action on the eve of Hogmanay in Musselburgh as heavy rainfall sparked fears for families.
The council’s head of infrastructure Tom Reid said it was only a change in the tide, which halted a potential disaster for locals.
He said: “We had an event where had the tide not changed there would have been an evacuation of somewhere between 10 and 20 houses and those properties would have likely suffered significant damage.
“We were probably 15 minutes away from me taking a determination to evacuate.”
Mr Reid was referencing rain storms on December 30, which sparked warnings in the town which is at the centre of discussions over a £54million flood protection scheme.
At the time the Scottish Environment Protection Agency warned the River Esk was in danger of bursting its banks and the council’s teams were put on stand by with sandbags put in place along the river banks.
A council spokesperson said of the incident: “Heavy rain and rising river levels came close to necessitating the evacuation of a number of homes in the vicinity of the Esk. Council teams had placed sandbags and flood barriers at strategic locations along the riverbank as a precautionary measure and remained on stand-by to respond to any challenges which emerged.
“Residents in the area would have received updates from SEPA’s Floodline Direct Warning system if they had registered with the scheme. Warning messages are sent directly to registered phone numbers in known risk areas encouraging users to check the SEPA website or call Floodline for more information.
“The council also provided regular updates to residents through our various communication channels.”
Musselburgh is at risk of flooding from the river which runs through the town as well as from its coastline.
The protection scheme includes plans to create around 4.7km of flood walls along the river to reduce the risk.
At this week’s meeting councillors were told that nearly 500 objections to the plans had been received. They agreed to ask Scottish Ministers to hold a public inquiry and take a final decision on the project after officers said they were not able to make enough modifications to appease all the objections.
The proposed project would be part of the National Flood Protection Scheme Programme with the Scottish Government providing 80 per cent of its costs.
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