Floods in Saltcoats 1991

[ellenyoung31]

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Hi All.
This may interest the Saltcoats and others. it is quite long
but I never seen Saltcoats flooded like that. may be Linda
can tell us more. I hope it is all right putting this on the forum. Ellen.

[Lynda]

Hi ellen

yes I can remeber that alright.It was really bad winds and rain we had and of course the water was coming over the railway lines train were stopped .Dockead st was flooded shops and pubs had to close.Yet all the drinkers in albion were not leaving their pints.The firemen had to use dingyh to get people out.The shops when they opened had sales of all the goods water damaged.You could get a good bargain as not all things were wet.I managed to get shoes for the boys and only paid a couple of pounds.

[Hughie]

Yes I remember seeing a video of them all getting into a row boat outside the Albion. Billy Reid from Saltcoats and his wife Ann Boyle from Stevenston who live near us in Oz brought it down when they visted with my cousin out from the three towns John (Muscles) Cunningham and his wife Margaret Boyle. Amazing scenes.

[morag]

I think this must have been the same flood that caused an old schoolmate to complain to the papers that her safety deposit box had been flooded and contents damaged...mst've been quite something!

[mckay47]

I have never seen this video before Ellen, thanks for posting it. My mother was visiting me at the time this happened, and when she went home she had a mess to get cleared up with her safe deposit box. This was also around the time of the gulf war and operation desert storm started the day Mum traveled home, January 16th. I don't think she will forget that vacation in a hurry
Betty

[down south]

Thanks for another great find, Ellen; I wasn't even aware of that site and its companion ones before, a few more interesting pictures and things on there as well.
I'd just about heard of the Saltcoats floods of 1991, but I had no idea they were quite so dramatic; it may have been all over the front pages in Scotland, but it got about a one-line mention south of the border. Scary scenes; whirlpools in the middle of Dockhead St, and happening of all times at the height of a Saltcoats Saturday afternoon...Watching the complete video including the aftermath of clearing up round town, I was struck by what a good collection of shops Saltcoats still seemed to have back then, including a number of familiar old names. It looks as though the worries of those spoken to came to pass and it was the floods that bore a lot of the blame for the decline of the town centre to " nothing but pound shops ".

Susan

[Meg]

I remember that weekend so well. The usual Saturday in our house included me dropping my dad off at the Winton where he enjoyed a pint (or four) with my brother George, and a trip or two across the road to the bookies. The day was getting stormier and stormier, so when I went back down the street to pick my dad up, it was blowing a gale. Now my dad was so thin he used to have to run about in the shower to get wet, so you can imagine what it was like trying to get him across the road and into my car - he said he felt like a human kite - with me hanging onto his sleeve incase he blew along the street. It was wild that day.

Meg

[Jimmym]

Hi Folk's seen the floods of 1991 on youtube a month or so ago i remember my late Uncle had a video of the great floods before the one in 1991 would love to see what he had i spoke to my mum and she thinks that one of the family may have it i will try to see if i can get a hold of it, if it has not been put in the bin but it just shows us when mother nature calls we are helpless.
Bestwishes Jimmy

[down south]

That original link to the video doesn't work any more, but here it is on YouTube:




Susan