PEOPLE living in the Borders have been advised to prepare to evacuate their homes amid fears of flooding following heavy rain over night.
Scottish Borders Council warned that the River Teviot in Hawick had risen overnight and was expected to peak at 11am and again at 5pm.
A total of 12 flood warnings are currently in place across the area after a band of heavy rain hit the borders and Dumfries and Galloway, with 17 in place for Scotland overall.
However, while there has been heavy rainfall overnight and river levels have increased, no significant flooding has been experienced so far - though rainfall has disrupted travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
But it is expected that further rainfall through the morning and into the afternoon will continue to impact on river levels, with more flood warnings likely to be issued, particularly for the Tweed at Peebles and Kelso.
A rest centre has opened at Teviotdale Leisure Centre to support residents in at-risk areas. The local authority said that this will be reviewed and may be stood down later this morning, to be reopened as required later in the day.
Flood fears have risen (stock pic)
Residents in Hawick living in at-risk areas near the river are still encouraged to consider plans for evacuating their homes.
People in any at-risk areas with flood protection products are advised to put these in place as a precaution.
A multi-agency Emergency Control Centre has been set up and is monitoring the situation closely across the Scottish Borders, alongside Met Office staff and SEPA colleagues.
Closer to Glasgow, flooding was possible at Pollok Country Park just south of where the River Clyde passes through central Glasgow, with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) also reporting almost 24mm of rainfall over 36 hours at nearby Dalmarnock.
Traffic Scotland said it had reports of flooding on the M74/A74(M) around Abington in South Lanarkshire, while just before 7am the entry slip at J13 was blocked due to a car stuck in water.
Train services were also disrupted by the weather, including the Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via Shotts, Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High and Glasgow Queen Street to Alloa/Aberdeen/Inverness services.
ScotRail tweeted that “there’s disruption on many routes this morning due to extremely heavy rain”.
Most of the other flood warnings were dotted throughout the Borders, where the Eskdalemuir Observatory recorded 79mm of rain in the same period – to 11pm on Wednesday – with another two warnings in Dumfries and Galloway.
Sepa had also issued flood alerts for Edinburgh and Lothian as well as Ayrshire and Arran.
The Met Office put out weather alerts for southern Scotland, with amber and yellow warnings in place throughout Dumfries and Galloway until 9am on Thursday due to “persistent and heavy rain” likely to bring flooding and transport disruption.
An amber warning for heavy rain also applies in the Lake District until just before midnight on Thursday.
Spells of sustained rainfall are expected further south throughout the day, with a yellow warning issued for heavy rain to spread across south-east Wales before clearing to the east through Friday, the Met Office said.
Scotland’s Transport Minister Graeme Dey said: “The conditions could potentially bring disruption to the trunk road and rail networks, so it’s important people plan their journeys before they set off.
“Motorists should make sure their routes are available, follow travel advice from Police Scotland and drive to the conditions. The Traffic Scotland twitter page is regularly updated and the mobile website – my.trafficscotland.org – lets people access the latest information.
“If you are planning to travel by rail, please check with your operator ahead of your journey. This is particularly important for cross-border travellers following the earlier disruption to services.”
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