A pensioner's attempts to help his flooded neighbours ended in tragedy when he was swept to his death.

Bill Hamilton, 68, was trying to assist residents whose houses were hit by flash floods in the Inverness village of Smithton. But the retired tool company manager fell, hit his head and disappeared from sight into a swollen burn.

A local man found Mr Hamilton's body floating in a drain, hours after his dog Dougal had tried to raise the alarm at home.

His devastated family paid tribute to the pensioner last night, but said Highland Council failed to keep the culvert clear of debris.

Stepson Steven Ritchie, 34, said: "We are absolutely devastated. The whole place was getting flooded and Bill, being Bill, tried to help out. He went to try and unblock the drains, but it seems he fell and banged his head. He ended up in the burn and drowned.

"Hopefully he knew nothing about it and died quickly. He had gone out with the dog. We have been told the dog tried to pull him out, but didn't have enough strength. He kept on sliding down the pipe.

"Dougal came back to the house and we could see he had been scratching at the door, but there was nobody here at the time. He was running around the estate barking and someone reported the dog to the police. They were on their way up when the guy who discovered Bill was running down and he told them he had just come across the body. He just saw Bill's body popping up from the drains. It must have been terrible for him."

Mr Ritchie was at the family home in Smithton's Murray Terrace comforting his mother, Kathleen, who has been married to Mr Hamilton for 17 years.

He claimed Highland Council had been at fault for failing to deal with the flooding.

He said: "I blame the council for this. The water was all over the place. It has happened before, but nothing was done. Yesterday, though, they were clearing it all up. If that had been done he would never have gone to help, and wouldn't have died He was just trying to help everyone on the estate.”

Mrs Hamilton added: "He always did the cooking and cleaning while I went to work. Why didn't he just do that instead of going down to that burn. I just can't get my head around it. He will be missed by a lot of people.”

Highland Council city manager David Haas said: "The council is fully aware of the huge amount of disruption the weekend flooding caused to householders throughout the Inverness area. Our staff worked long and hard to clear the flooding and the public can be assured we will focus on an action plan aimed at tackling the trouble spots."

Provost Jimmy Gray and the four Culloden and Ardersier councillors met council officials on Wednesday to discuss the incident.

Mr Hamilton was a former manager for Black and Decker in the Highlands. His funeral will take place on Tuesday at the funeral home of William Fraser and Sons in Inverness.

A Northern Constabulary spokesman said "At around 5.45pm on Sunday a member of the public raised concerns about their neighbour. We attended and carried out inquiries and searches of the area.

"Sadly, at about 7pm a member of the public found the body of a man matching the description of the man. While there appears to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident, we are investigating the death."