Renewed rain warnings follow Storm Desmond floods

There are fresh warnings of rain for many parts of Scotland during the week

Renewed rain warnings are in place for parts of Scotland already affected by flooding due to Storm Desmond.

The yellow Met Office alerts cover much of southern and western Scotland on Monday evening with another for much of Wednesday and Thursday.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in Hawick due to flooding over the weekend.

Most roads in Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders are open but some are only passable with care.

Scottish Borders Council has asked motorists to drive with care with standing water still a major issue.

It has also urged them not to ignore road closure signs.

Trinity Primary School in Hawick was the only school shut in the region but it was scheduled to reopen on Tuesday.

'Be aware' warnings

In neighbouring Dumfries and Galloway, the A709 between Lochmaben and Lockerbie was shut for a time but it has since reopened.

A number of minor routes in the area remain closed.

Several roads are also still closed across central Scotland because of flooding,

The latest yellow "be aware" rain warnings are not expected to be as heavy or as prolonged as recent downpours.

However, due to the saturated nature of the ground and high river levels, the Met Office said further localised flooding and disruption to transport was possible.

The first warning runs from 17:00 on Monday to 05:00 on Tuesday with the second valid from 06:00 on Wednesday to 18:00 on Thursday.

The alerts cover Tayside, Fife, Strathclyde, the Borders and south west Scotland.

Financial assistance

The Scottish government has said it will consider emergency financial assistance for any local authority to help deal with the costs of flood damage that occurred in the aftermath of Storm Desmond.

The Bellwin Scheme is a discretionary scheme to give financial assistance to councils who face an undue financial burden as a result of large-scale emergencies.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: "Various parts of Scotland experienced emergency situations caused by the flooding over the weekend, in particular the Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Tayside, Speyside and Moray.

"This government is committed to helping communities get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

"I have today agreed to activate the Bellwin scheme which provides support to local authorities to assist with immediate and unforeseen costs of dealing with the latest flood damage."

Borders MSP Paul Wheelhouse and MP Calum Kerr said they would be getting in touch with Scottish government to see if plans already in place for new flood protection schemes could be advanced.

MSP John Lamont also called for the work to implement the flood prevention scheme to begin immediately.