THE highest water levels in the past 30 years have caused havoc to

homes on the Loch Lomond island of Inchmurrin.

As torrential rain continued throughout yesterday local residents

battled to keep the rising waters of the loch from invading their homes.

Water board officials said the loch's level was standing at 31 ft --

five feet higher than normal and the highest recorded in recent years.

Dr Thomas Cowie, a 69-year-old retired GP, who lives on the island

with his wife, said his garden had been completely submerged. He was

worried that more rain overnight could bring flooding into his home.

There are 16 houses on the tiny island, which stands only a few

hundred feet from the mainland. Most of the homes are used as holiday

houses.

Dr Cowie said he had looked around the island and he reckoned that at

least two holiday houses were in danger because their foundations were

being eroded by the weather.

Mr Tom Scott, the island's 63-year-old owner, said that the rain,

coupled with the high winds of the weekend, had swept away the island's

jetties and that it was becoming extremely hazardous to use his tiny

boat which acts as a ferry for the local residents.

He said: ''This island used to be about 350 acres. Now it is down to

about 300 acres because of the erosion. I have lived here all my life

and I have never seen it like this before.''

Mr Scott blamed the flooding on a barrage dam built at Balloch between

the loch and the River Leven by the Central Scotland Water Development

Board in the early 1970s. He said the problems had begun when the dam

was built.

However, a senior official from the board explained that the dam was

only in operation during the summer and that, at present, the gates were

down completely. Indeed, because they had helped to dredge the area

around the River Leven, the water was flowing more effectively at

present.

The unprecedented high water levels on Loch Lomond are being put down

to a combination of storm-force winds, heavy rain, and melting snow from

the mountains.

One possible contributing factor, however, is that the North of

Scotland Hydro-Electric Board's generator in the connecting Loch Sloy

has been operating over the last few days, pouring water into Loch

Lomond. But a spokesman for the board said the water released by the

generating station was no more than would be released naturally. They

were aware of the abnormally high levels in Loch Lomond at present and

had decided to cut the generating operation by half for the next 36

hours.