Wick road closed twice in two days after landslides
Two landslides in the space of two days on the same stretch of road in Wick forced the council to close the street twice this week.
Harbour Road remained closed on Thursday after the road was cordoned off for a second time on Tuesday. Grass and soil could still be seen below the retaining wall on the road surface.
The initial landslide occurred on Sunday afternoon with the road being cleared on Tuesday morning and reopened by council workers, only for more soil to slide on to the road later that same day.
Wick and East Caithness councillor Willie Mackay said: “This is most unfortunate along one of the busiest roads in Wick and, irrespective of the smaller landslide close by, I’m sure there was no warning a bigger fall of earth was on its way.
“Landslides occur with adverse rainfalls – the run-off and snow melting changing the earth into a flow of mud or slurry with little or no warning.”

Councillor Mackay expected the council to have the matter in hand and "enter into appropriate discussion following this larger fall".
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “Our roads team has arranged for a specialised access platform tomorrow [Friday] morning to allow our roads staff to dislodge some loose soil on the slope and make it safe again. Once this has been removed and the road is cleaned it will be opened up again.”
No timescale was given for when the work would be finished but the spokesperson said the road would reopen as soon as possible.
Wick weather watcher Keith Banks said that between 6am on Wednesday, January 20, and 6am on Friday, January 22, Storm Christoph dumped a substantial amount of rain on Wick totalling 27.4mm.
Mr Banks said: "A further 6.6mm in the form of snow and ice pellets fell over the weekend, as the temperatures fell to below freezing.
"This period of sustained and at times heavy precipitation, that subsequently froze, then partially thawed, created the conditions that were optimal for triggering the mudslides that have occurred in and around Wick since Sunday.
"The large amounts of water that have accumulated have caused the soil on the steep slopes to erode and become unstable. This great volume of water has caused the soil to become so saturated that it has then liquified, and eventually gravity has then facilitated the mixture to cascade downhill."
Another landslide closes Wick road again