Flood warning as Scotland battered by heavy rain and winds

The Met Office has issued amber weather warnings for flooding as Scotland is battered by heavy wind and rain over the next few days.

Around 120mm of water is set to fall over a 36-hour period on Tuesday and Wednesday for areas including Perth, Stirling, and Dumfries and Galloway.

An amber weather warning for rain likely to cause flooding and travel disruption is in place for these regions until midday on Wednesday.

The Met Office has also issued a yellow warning for wind covering Scotland and Northern Ireland, where gusts of up to 50mph are expected on Tuesday.

Delays to public transport, difficult driving conditions and fast-flowing water are expected due to the weather.

STV meteorologist Sean Batty said: “We’ve now entered a significant mild spell after the extreme cold we had the previous week, and with that much milder air comes a lot of rain.

“Over the last week there’s been some flooding issues, exacerbated by snow melt raising some river levels, particularly in the north east where we had over 70cm of snow recorded in parts of Deeside.

“The focus for this next spell of heavy rain will be on southern and central Scotland, as well as Tayside, with as much as 120mm possible in a few spots.

“I expect the highest totals to be along the southern end of the Grampians and the Southern Uplands, with half a month’s worth of rain falling through the course of Tuesday.

“This amount of rain will likely lead to flooding of properties nearby rivers along with the usual flooding of the usual roads and fields during periods of very wet weather.

“Rivers levels will be particularly high in the Tayside area where we’ve already had high levels recently and still some snow thawing on the mountains.

“While more rain will come and go for the rest of the week, there won’t be anything as bad as this.

“So the main risk of flooding will be Tuesday, but also a risk of more on Wednesday due to a lag of the water coming off hills and mountains into our rivers.”