Floods hit Scottish caravan site Aberdeen's D class inshore lifeboat was towed more than eight miles behind the helmsman's car when a flash flood burst the banks of the River Dee and water up to 1 Oft deep engulfed a park containing nearly 100 caravans and chalets.

At 0300 on 8 October the Grampian Fire Brigade contacted the station for help and in less than an hour the lifeboat crew had transported the inflatable to the site and began searching for three people believed trapped and for three firefighters who had previously waded out and been cut off.

The missing people were found inside their caravans, with the firefighters marooned on top of nearby caravans, and eventually taken to safety. Navigation was extremely difficult in the dark, partly due to the current flowing through the park and partly because of underwater obstructions including fences, shrubs, barbed wire and submerged cars. The lifeboat in fact grounded on several parked cars during the service.

On its next foray the lifeboat located an American in a chalet and was about to take him to safety when he expressed concern about a lone female in a nearby chalet. She was found, but would not leave without her two badly scared cats or allow anyone else to take care of them. The firefighter aboard the lifeboat said that his service had strong bags for this kind of work and so the lifeboat set out to land the American and fetch the bags.

However at this point fears were expressed for the safety of an elderly man with his leg in plaster who lived in an isolated caravan half-a-mile outside the caravan park. With the American acting as a guide the ILB located the caravan and the crew made her fast to a fence while they waded the rest of the way. They found the man and his dog lying on a partially submerged mattress, very cold, wet and shivering but had to break a window to get to him.

Having landed the survivors and the dog the ILB went back for the lady and her cats, and after quick refreshements the crew were asked to check every caravan and chalet. They did so in conjunction with a police inflatable, finding two more cats - one on a settee floating in about 3ft of water- and returning them to their owners.

It was daylight by now and at 0740 the crew set about ensuring that all gas cylinders were turned off, frequently wading among the floating cylinders and at one point making the lifeboat fast to a submerged JCB. Having also discovered a wild rabbit marooned on a fence and rescued that, they then took a representative of the gas company to turn off the supply to a large gas tank which was floating and attached only by its supply pipe. The lifeboat crew were then able to load their boat onto a fire brigade lorry to return home.

However there was more work to do - and the crew were recalled to help the police inflatable with the evacuation of three more people - including a pregnant lady and a small baby - then to retrieve the large gas tank which was now in danger of being swept into the swollen river, and finally to retrieve a makeshift raft which had sunk on passage to dry land.

It was not until 1250 that the crew were finally stood down - nearly nine hours after their arrival - and were finally able to re-load the inflatable on the lorry and return to station..