Scottish summer strikes again

Published on Sunday 4 July 2010 20:13

DROUGHT-HIT Scotland was battered by gale-force winds and drenched in more than a month's worth of rain yesterday.

Ferry sailings were cancelled in the Western Isles by winds gusting up to 70mph and warnings were issued on all of the country's main road bridges.

In Fife, there were 13 calls to the emergency services, with people reporting fallen trees, flooding and overflowing drains.

Flooding caused manhole covers to become dislodged and two cars crashed in Kirkcaldy following collisions with the metal coverings.

There were also reports of fallen trees blocking roads across the country.

CalMac said ferry crossings were cancelled on a number of routes including Barra to Eriskay, Oban to Castlebay and Berneray to the Sound of Harris.

In Selkirk in the Borders, a 34-year-old man was rescued from the Yarrow River when he got into difficulty after jumping in yesterday afternoon.

The high rainfall came just weeks after figures showed the country had experienced the driest six months of the year since 1941.

One of the worst-hit areas for flooding was Tyndrum in Argyll which was swamped by a 40mm (1.6in) downpour, sparking a flood alert in the previously parched region. The village was part of the country which received just 36mm (1.4in) of rain from the beginning to the end of last month.

Glasgow was swamped by 17mm (0.7in) in just three wild hours while more than 10mm (0.4in) fell in Edinburgh. The figure for Dumfries and Galloway, an area being considered for a drought order, was up to 30mm (1in).

By mid-afternoon, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) put seven flood watches in place, mostly in the areas which have been starved of water for most of this year.

They included Argyll rivers and Loch Lomond, Dumfries and Galloway rivers, Skye and Lochaber, and west-central Scotland.

Sepa also issued a flood warning for the river Lyon in Perth and Kinross.

A spokeswoman for Sepa said dry ground was proving a problem. "Usually, the rain soaks into the ground but because the ground is so dry, it is just running off."

She added: "Water levels are currently very low because of the lack of rainfall over the last six months so, for some parts of the country, all this rain will be very welcome."

Dave Rigby, of the Met Office in Aberdeen, explained the weather was due to a deep low pressure system coming in from the Atlantic which had settled off the north-west of Scotland.

He also said there was more unsettled weather to come over the next five days.

Mr Rigby added: "This is a most unusual event for this time of year.Low pressure such as this is more normally associated with late autumn.

"We actually saw 21C (70F) in Inverness but nobody will have noticed through the wind and the rain."

He said: "My advice to parents is to have some indoor entertainment options up their sleeves because the unsettled weather is here for the next five days across most of Scotland."