Heavy downpours strike across southern Scotland

Heavy August downpours have been affecting many parts of Scotland

Heavy rain has been sweeping across southern Scotland with a Met Office yellow warning in place.

An original alert covered other parts of the country but it has since been concentrated mainly on Dumfries and Galloway and now runs until midnight.

Police advised drivers to remove their vehicles from parts of Newton Stewart due to the risk of flooding at the further education centre car park and Riverside Road.

The Met Office said there could be more localised disruption due to the heavy downpours.

The warning mainly covers eastern parts of Dumfries and Galloway

An initial warning covered western, central and southwestern Scotland and was in place from 18:00 on Sunday to 21:00 on Monday.

It was subsequently adjusted to cover eastern Dumfries and Galloway and extended until midnight.

The Met Office warned spraying and flooding on roads may make journey times longer.

Rail operator ScotRail has implemented speed restrictions on a number of services that are likely to lead to extended journey times.

Routes affected are between Queen St/Oban/Mallaig, Glasgow Central/Barrhead/Kilmarnock/Carlisle, Glasgow Central/Stranraer, Glasgow Central/Largs/Ardrossan Harbour and Glasgow Central/Ayr.

Scotrail urged passengers to check travel ahead of time using the app or website.

There is also a possibility of flooding of a few homes, businesses and campsites.

Environmental agency Sepa issued flood alerts due to expected heavy rain.

Ferry services from Mallaig to Lochboisdale and Armadale and Berneray to Leverburgh were impacted due to adverse weather.

Calmac said the Ardmhor to Eriskay route was on yellow alert and liable to cancellation or disruption.

A spokesperson for CalMac said: “Our priority is the safety of customers and colleagues.

"We are working hard to keep customers updated with the latest information via the service status and information pages, our app and our Twitter page."

Safety 'priority'

Ahead of the wet weather, BEAR Scotland said traffic would be diverted from the A83 Rest and Be Thankful to the Old Military Road as a precaution.

The situation was being reviewed throughout the day.

In 2023, the A83 was hit by landslides which saw 12,000 tonnes of mud and rocks litter the road

In October 2023, a month's worth of rainfall - about 160mm (6in) - fell over 36 hours caused seven landslips at Rest and Be Thankful.

Ten people had to be airlifted from vehicles after 12,000 tonnes of debris crashed onto the A83 during heavy rain.

The popular tourist destination was closed for a total of 200 days in 2020 due to its vulnerability to landslides.

Traffic Scotland said traffic would operate under a convoy system and road users should expect delays of around 20 minutes.

Live traffic information is available on the Traffic Scotland website.