Ten days' worth of rainfall in torrential downpours amid flood warning

Torrential downpours are to bring ten days’ worth of rainfall across southwest Scotland with a Met Office weather warning in force.

An alert for heavy rain came into force at 3am on Tuesday and remains in effect until 7pm. It is set to be accompanied by strong winds in places with gusts of up to 50mph.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued three flood alerts covering central Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Borders.

The Met Office warned of delays to journey times from travel disruption and flood risk for homes and businesses.

Parts of Dumfries and Galloway, South Lanarkshire and the Borders are expected to see up to 40mm of rainfall quite widely, STV weather presenter Philip Petrie said.

Insight Philip Petrie STV weather presenter

Overnight, a deep area of low pressure moved in from the west, and things have turned increasingly cloudy from the south and west, with outbreaks of rain persistent and heavy at times.

The winds have picked up strength too – with gusts of 50mph around the Western Isles.

Because parts of the country have already seen a lot of rainfall over the past couple of days, the Met Office decided to issue a yellow weather warning for rain covering Dumfries and Galloway, South Lanarkshire and the Borders.

This came into effect at 3am and within the warning zone we are likely to see between 25-40mm of rainfall quite widely.

Through to the end part of the week a ridge of high pressure establishes itself across the UK and settles things down in time for the weekend.