Heavy rain leads to 'serious' flooding and power cuts

Heavy rain has caused "serious flooding" in parts of Scotland, with properties evacuated and hundreds of people in Perthshire without power.

Fire crews helped people from homes and businesses in Alyth, where others were stranded in their vehicles.

Refuge centres have been set up in the area for those affected.

Elsewhere, flooding saw play suspended for several hours at The Open in St Andrews, and there were problems on roads around the country.

The Met Office has issued a number of weather warnings, with an updated alert covering the period until Saturday lunchtime.

Properties and cars were damaged by the flood water in Alyth

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said "serious flooding" had affected properties in Alyth, with water several feet deep flowing down roads and members of the public left stranded in their vehicles.

Crews had to assist in evacuating 70 flooded homes and businesses in the Springbank Road area, and a refuge centre was set up at Alyth Hall.

A spokesman said 20 properties in Bankfoot had been affected, where a rest centre was also established, with crews also called out in Blairgowrie, Perth and Spittalfield.

More than 750 properties in Alyth were affected by the power cut, and Scottish Hydro said efforts to restore services had been "severely hampered" by rising water levels.

A bridge over the Alyth burn carrying power cables was washed away, and engineers were working to re-route supplies from other parts of the network.

The flood was "absolutely devastating", Roy Dunsire from the Scottish Fire Rescue Service told BBC Scotland.

He said: "It was a massive surge of water coming through the town centre of Alyth. So much so that the surge of water was picking up cars and anything else in its path and lifting them up and taking them away.

"There were about 100 properties that were affected by this massive surge of water. Our priorities were to rescue any people in those affected properties and lead them to a place of safety."

Mr Dunsire said it was a very big operation with about 50 firefighters in the town in the early stages.

He added: "In my 23-year career I have never seen anything like this at all. The power of this water was incredible."

Flood warnings

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency issued a number of flood alerts and warnings for Tayside, Fife and Aberdeenshire, and is monitoring the situation in Perthshire.

Richard Brown, the group's head of hydrology, said that although rain was clearing through the afternoon, there was potential for continued surface water flooding.

He said further showers were expected in the west of the country on Saturday, and said he would "strongly encourage people to remain vigilant and be mindful of conditions".

Play at The Open golf tournament in St Andrews was halted early in the day, with play suspended for several hours.

Showers got worse as Jaco van Zyl, Mark Calcavecchia and Marcel Siem teed off at 06:32 and they had only reached the first green when they were called off. Play resumed just after 10:00.

Peter Dawson, R&A chief executive, told BBC Scotland: "It has been a very tough morning. It started raining just before 05:00 and we've had 20mm since then, 12mm of those in a very short time period and the course started to puddle and flood in certain areas."

A Met Office yellow "be aware" warning remains in place, covering the Western Isles, Wester Ross, Sutherland, Argyll, Lochaber and parts of Tayside and central Scotland.

Police Scotland had urged drivers to "slow down and take care" on Friday morning.

Warnings about problems were issued for road users on the M9, M90 and A90.

The A82 Inverness to Drumnadrochit road was partially blocked at Lochend by a mud-slip.

In the south side of Glasgow, Haggs Road was closed between Pollokshaws Road and St Andrews Drive because of flooding.

Heavy rain

Forecasters said winds could gust to speeds of 50mph, while heavy rain has also been forecast for Saturday.

The Met Office has updated its yellow weather warning for Friday evening and Saturday morning.

The warning covers Strathclyde, Central Scotland, Tayside, Fife and the Highlands and Islands.

The Met Office said: "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 southwesterly 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 35mph to 45mph inland."

Homes and properties in Alyth were evacuated as flood water rose