Brace yourself for a two-day drenching

SCOTLAND is braced for a two-day deluge with up to 8in of rain in some parts threatening to cause rush-hour chaos and widespread flash-flooding.

The onslaught, which will sweep in before dawn today on brisk westerly winds, has sparked Met Office warnings of dangerous downpours likely to last into Wednesday.

The worst of the weather is forecast for western areas, where yellow ‘be aware’ warnings have been posted for heavy and persistent rain which is likely to trigger travel disruption.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has confirmed that the areas likely to be worst affected by flooding will be Argyll and Inverness-shire.

Storm Leslie, in the mid-Atlantic, is helping to catapult tropical air to Scotland but will also bring gales from separate lowpressure areas.

Steven Keates of the Met Office said: ‘It won’t be raining all the time in any one place but if you are in the West of the country, it will never be far away.

‘These are moist, south-westerly winds, heading all the way from the other side of the Atlantic. The heavy rain will fall in a part of the world that can usually cope with downpours but these will have an impact, which is why we have issued the warnings.’

A yellow warning notice was posted yesterday covering western coastal areas in an arc from southern Argyll to western Inverness-shire.

However, a much wider area falls under the second ‘be aware’ warning which will remain in force throughout today. This will affect Central, Tayside, Fife, South West Scotland, Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde, as well as those areas already affected yesterday. The Met Office says more than 2in of rain will fall generally but as much as 6in can be expected in ‘more exposed’ areas.

It is likely that drivers will be confronted by very heavy spray and possible flooding on the roads. Bus and train services are also likely to suffer and commuters have been warned to plan for disruption.

The heavy rain will be accompanied by winds gusting between 50mph and 60mph around exposed coastlines and higher ground.

A third warning for heavy rain will last for the whole of tomorrow, affecting broadly similar areas as today.