Fife has declared a major incident after assessing the damage caused by last night’s severe thunderstorms and flooding.

The region’s Local Resilience Partnership has been activated to pull together the response to help communities.

There have been reports of landslides and damage following the torrential downpour.

Flooding at Links St/Bridge St in Kirkcaldy (Pic: Fife Photo Agency)

Travel has been badly disrupted, and many schools have had to close on their first scheduled day back after the coronavirus lockdown.

Police, fire and council teams have been dealing with a number of incidents across Fife with flooding issues hitting Cardenden, Kinglassie, Culross, Lochgelly and Freuchie.

One of the biggest incidents came in Kinghorn where holidaymakers at Pettycur Bay Caravan Park were evacuated after a landslip closed the A921 Kirkcaldy-Burntisland road in both directions.

Landslip closes Kinghorn to Burntisland Road

Car park flooded at Victoria Hospital (Pic: Fife Photo Agency)

Over 200 people were helped from their caravans and put into emergency accommodation overnight.

Staff at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy emerged from the building to find their cars piled up after being washed away in a flooded car park.

All train service between Edinburgh and Fife have been cancelled, while bus services are badly hit.

Roads closed include the A909 Cowdenbeath Rd, Burntisland; A911 Leslie at Auchmuir Bridge; A921 Kinghorn to Burntisland - at Pettycur Bay; Esplanade, Overton Road and Oriel Road in Kirkcaldy; and Glenwood Road in Leslie.

Fife Ethylene Plant at Mossmorran activated its elevated flare after power problems at the plant.

Fife school disruption: More closures confirmed

Superintendent Sandy Brodie, who chairs Fife’s Local Resilience Partnership, said all efforts were being made to tackle the clear-up.

He said: “ Public services are working together to deal with this incident and taking guidance from public health to make sure all current guidance is being followed when supporting those affected.

“I want to reassure residents that we are working to get services back up and running as quickly as possible and will continue to monitor the situation.

“ In the interim, I would ask people not to travel unless absolutely necessary”

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Fife declares major incident - only travel if necessary