A farmer desperate to ‘save his home’ from flooding resorted to building a barricade of animal dung, but his neighbours have shared their concerns about water contamination.
Tommy Cannon decided to improvise when heavy rain caused a stream to burst its banks and sent water rushing down his street near Dumfries, Scotland, on December 30.
The 38-year-old farm worker claims he could not drive to town for sandbags so instead used manure from work to ‘save his home from being flooded’.
A viral video shows a digger dropping piles of brown fertiliser across his driveway as he laughs and says ‘you know you’re a farmer when you’re using dung as a flood defence’.
He decided to improvise when heavy rain caused a stream to burst its banks and sent water rushing down his street. Pictured: The field behind Tommy’s flooded back garden
Tommy Cannon had his drive filled with an animal dung barrier to protect his house from flooding
Many Facebook users praised his ‘quick thinking’ and said the act was a ‘no-brainer’ given that ‘sometimes emergencies call for desperate measures’.
However some Facebook users said they were surprised environment chiefs have not paid him a visit as they feared his reeking barricade could have contaminated local water.
One enraged farmer, known as Dan, branded him ‘thick’ and blamed actions like Mr Tommy’s for the ‘red tape’ around spreading manure on fields.
Tommy Cannon said he used manure to ‘save his home’
Tommy hit back joking ‘if you had brains you’d be dangerous’ before sharing a video of his flooded driveway, back garden and the fields behind to show his situation.
The Scottish Government’s Water Environment Regulations prohibit fertiliser such as dung from being stored or applied to ‘waterlogged’ land.
Tommy said: ‘It was what I had to do to save my house.
‘It was the only thing I had to block the road. It wasn’t possible to get to town by the road so I couldn’t get sandbags.
‘A stream had burst its banks and it was coming down the road like a river. I was worried about my house getting flooded.
‘It’s stored in areas with proper drainage on the farm so it took us five minutes to get it. You can see from the picture from the next day that I cleaned everything up.
‘We had a really heavy downpour and within an hour I could see water swelling up around my house and my garage started to flood. If I hadn’t done this my house would definitely have flooded.
‘I realise there’s a lot of people who will say it’s irresponsible, but with the amount of water going down the road it would have been well diluted and nobody would notice a thing.’
A digger drops animal dung on Tommy’s drive in an attempt to help stop the flooding
The 38-year-old farm worker claims he could not drive to town for sandbags so instead used manure. Pictured: The field behind Tommy’s flooded back garden
Tommy Cannon, who lives near Dumfries in Scotland defended his actions against critics
Tommy explained that his area faced four inches of rain in 12 hours and claims he cleaned everything up by 10.30am the next morning.
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The farmer declares the dung is back in storage and his drive has been washed before asking if there was anything else disgruntled farmer Dan would like him to do.
Tommy says the rain died off throughout the day but the water continued to flow down his road until New Year’s Eve morning when he cleaned up.
The agricultural contractor was pleased the majority of comments were supportive of his improvisation and brushed off Dan’s criticism as ‘his problem’.
His post simply reads ‘drastic times call for drastic measures. It worked though’.
One commented: ‘Wow, needs must. I would rather have this on my driveway than the house flooded. No-brainer really. Good job.’
Another said: ‘You grabbed what you had to hand and I don’t blame you either. Well done on the quick thinking.’
Tommy explained that his area faced four inches of rain in 12 hours. Pictured: Tommy’s flooded drive
The Scottish Government’s Water Environment Regulations prohibit fertiliser such as dung from being stored or applied to ‘waterlogged’ land. Pictured: Tommy’s flooded drive
The farmer defended his actions ad said: ‘If I hadn’t done this my house would definitely have flooded.’ Pictured: The road outside Tommy’s house
A third explained: ‘If the place was flooding, the water would have reached the muck and had the same effect anyway!’
However farmer Dan said: ‘What a k***. Then [he] questions why the Environment Agency is pounding the door. It’s idiots like that that make so much red tape for everyone else.’
Another agreed and said: ‘Surprised the environment agency hasn’t been onto them for contamination of water!’
One joked: ‘That flood defence is a load of s***.’
Another added: ‘Bit of a s*** position to be in.’
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency confirmed there has been no complaint regarding the incident and declined to comment further.
Designers have envisaged what ‘flood-proof’ houses will look like by 2072 amid rising sea levels- including buoyant foundations, inflatable rafts and kitchens on the top floor.
