Scotland’s weather: Homes evacuated in floods

Heavy rain caused severe flooding in Alyth, Perthshire. Picture: Hemedia

AROUND 90 flooded properties have been evacuated and several motorists were rescued from cars after heavy rain lashed parts of the country.

Perthshire was particularly badly hit with serious flooding across the region.

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning of rain for much of Scotland for the rest of the day.

Sepa has issued 17 flood warnings and five flood alerts.

Severe flood waters in Alyth, Perthshire. Picture: Hemedia

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said it helped evacuate people from 70 flooded properties in one street in Alyth, Perthshire, and 20 properties in another road.

Firefighters also helped rescue several people stranded in their vehicles by flood water in the town.

Some motorists were rescued from their cars as flooding hit parts of Perthshire. Picture: Hemedia

Five properties in Bankfoot, Perthshire, have also been evacuated due to flooding.

Colin Grieve, SFRS local senior officer for Perth and Kinross, Dundee and Angus, said: “Our crews are doing some excellent work and have had an extremely busy morning due to the high number of flooding incidents we have attended.

“I would also like to pay tribute to our control staff who have done a fantastic job during what has been an incredibly busy day so far.

“Everyone is working together to assist members of the public and the service is liaising closely with its emergency services partners to ensure people’s safety and well-being.”

Fire crews have also been attending reports of flooding in Perth, Blairgowrie, Glen Isla and Coupar Angus.

The Met Office yellow “be aware” warning covers the Central, Tayside and Fife, Grampian, Highlands, Western Isles and Strathclyde regions.

The warning, which is valid until 1pm tomorrow, says “persistent and sometimes rather heavy rain will develop again across parts of western Scotland on Friday evening, lasting into the first part of Saturday.

“The rain will be accompanied by strong west or south-westerly winds, with gales especially along some exposed coasts this evening and for a time overnight. Gusts of wind may exceed 55mph there, but more widely 35 to 45mph inland.”