Torrential rainfall has created chaos for travellers in Scotland today.
The rain, which fell incessantly for just two hours last night, has wreaked serious damage on roads and railways.
A spokesperson for the Met Office said, ‘We had 35mm of rain recorded in some places, which is not what we expect in one day in July. It came down very heavily in the Central Belt and southern Scotland and caused many problems on transport routes before the conditions cleared up. We expect more unsettled weather in the next few days.’
The rainfall has led to flooding and the closing of main rail stations, and brought motorways in Glasgow to halt, while parts of the M8 and the Edinburgh bypass were shut because of the torrential downpours.
In Edinburgh, the A720 bypass has seen slow traffic movement, due to the bad weather and an earlier collision. On the M8, flash floods close to the Showcase leisure park in Coatbridge, also caused traffic to move at a snail’s pace, while train services to and from Milngavie were suspended, due to a landslide.
The Met Office has issued an amber warning for central Scotland, asking people to stay indoors and remain aware of flash floods and fresh downpours.
The regions most affected by the heavy rainfall are central, west and southern Scotland.
David Faichney, from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, said in an interview to BBC Radio Scotland, ‘If you look back to last Saturday, we have had over four inches of rain in some areas so things are very wet.
The areas we are focusing on are the River Forth at Stirling and the River Earn in Tayside, which is actually significantly higher than it has been for some time.’
