SOPPING CENTRE
Police stop owners wading back to cars under 4ft of flood water
CARS were submerged in water after flooding hit a tourist town yesterday.
Oban faced the full force of the weather as heavy rain and strong winds caused major disruption to travel across the country.
Shoppers in the Argyll town who tried to wade through water to retrieve their cars at Oban Retail Park were stopped by police for their own safety.
And the main routes out of the area – the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful and the A85 – were closed.
Sergeant Iain MacNicol said: “He added: “The flooding in Oban was bad. We are working with Argyll and Bute Council on a number of incidents of flooding and closing roads for safety, because it was too deep for people to travel through.”
Andy Spence of business group Bid4Oban added: “I have never seen anything like it. It is probably unprecedented.”
Elsewhere, motorists faced delays after a four-car crash on the westbound M8 near Renfrew, while a collision also involving four vehicles restricted travel on the approach to the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow. A lane was closed on the eastbound A92 near Cowdenbeath in Fife, again because of a four-vehicle incident.
A yellow Met Office warning for heavy rain was in place throughout the day in west and central Scotland, the Highlands and Islands, Tayside and Fife.
ScotRail services were disrupted between Glasgow Central and Ayr due to a tree affecting overhead wires at Elderslie in Renfrewshire.
Some ferry sailings were disrupted or cancelled due to the weather, including services from Mallaig and Armadale.
But it was a different story down south, with temperatures in Kent and other areas reaching the 20s.