Edinburgh flooding: Half of July rain fell in one hour

Edinburgh was hit with nearly half of its average July rainfall in under an hour on Sunday, as storms caused flooding across the city.

Trains were stopped and homes and businesses fought to keep the water out. The newly-opened St James Quarter shopping centre was also affected.

Council flood prevention teams are working with Scottish Water to find blockages and clear surface water.

A yellow warning of rain and a Sepa flood alert remain in place on Monday.

Edinburgh council said up to 37mm of rain had fallen - beyond the capacity of the city's drains and sewerage system.

Councillor Lesley Macinnes, transport and environment convener, said: "Our roads and flood prevention teams have worked extremely hard, throughout Sunday and overnight, to minimise the impact of this intense, sudden downpour.

"No city's drainage systems are designed to cope with the sort of short, sharp volume of water.

A couple stuck at a bus stop on Edinburgh's Roseburn Terrace

"Our sympathies are with anyone who has experienced damage to their property. Officers, along with partners, are working flat-out to make sure the aftermath is cleared as quickly as possible."

Images shared on social media showed a series of flooding incidents.

At a bridge in Chesser, fire crews could be seen moving vehicles stuck in the water. A couple were also pictured stuck at a bus stop on Roseburn Terrace.

Sunday's stormy weather also caused a problem for shoppers in the new St James Quarter, which opened last month.

Water could be seen dripping down windows and onto the balconies of several floors to ground level.

Fire crews helped to move cars stuck in floodwater in Chesser

Flooding also affected Inverleith

A spokeswoman for St James Quarter said: "Parts of the galleria were cordoned off for safety reasons.

"St James Quarter has been built to fully integrate with the city's streetscape and is not an enclosed building.

"Whilst it has been designed as a naturally-ventilated environment and allows some rain to come into the galleria, the extent of water ingress in two sections was mainly caused by severe rainfall testing areas which are still under construction."

Three restaurants, Five Guys, Burger King and Nando's as well as Genting Casinos and Tenpin at Fountain Park in Fountainbridge were closed on Sunday due to flooding. They remain closed.

Cineworld at the other end of the complex was unaffected by the flooding.

Three restaurants, Five Guys, Burger King and Nando's as well as Genting Casinos and Tenpin at Fountain Park in Fountainbridge were closed on Sunday due to flooding

The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh was also closed on Monday following flooding there.

On Sunday evening, ScotRail had announced that trains between Helensburgh and Edinburgh would only run as far as Bathgate for safety reasons.

Buses were arranged to run from Edinburgh to Glasgow while Network Rail workers set up pumps to clear water from railway tracks

Kayak search

Meanwhile, a search was carried out in the River Forth for two people in a kayak after the Coastguard received a 999 call from a passer-by who was concerned about them due to the poor weather conditions.

The Coastguard was called just before 17:15 on Sunday and carried out an extensive search, involving its helicopter from Prestwick, rescue teams from Fisherrow, Kinghorn and South Queensferry and RNLI lifeboats from Kinghorn and South Queensferry.

After nothing was found, the search was called off at about 21:00 pending further information.