For our latest dip into the Advertiser's archives, and with half an eye on the flash floods in and around Helensburgh last week, we're winding back the clock 15 years to our coverage of an even more serious flood which affected homes, businesses and a church in the town.

Here's how we reported the news in the Advertiser on August 12, 2004...

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THE Helensburgh area was reported as the worst hit in Scotland by flooding this week.

Fire crews battled to save properties all over the town as almost half the average rainfall for August fell in the space of just two days.

The bursting banks of the Glennan Burn caused the most problems, putting a house under four feet of water, flooding a church, and damaging shops along West Clyde Street.

READ MORE: Flash floods hit Helensburgh farm and disrupt train service

Roads in Helensburgh and the peninsula were badly hit by the storm, with some routes still closed as the Advertiser went to press on Wednesday.

Fire engines from Helensburgh, Garelochhead and Clydebank battled for five and a half hours to clear water from a cottage in West Princes Street after the burn flooded into the garden and then the house.

The fire brigade arrived just after 8am on Monday and began pumping water out of the house, and continued to do so until 1.30pm, returning on Tuesday to do the same.

READ MORE: From the Archives: Hermitage pupils celebrated exam success in 2009

The cottage owner told the Advertiser on Monday: “The first time I went in the water was about three feet high in the kitchen.

“I can’t even get in the kitchen now as it’s waist high.

“They’re trying to pump it out but at the moment we are fighting a losing battle because of the rain.”