COMMUTERS AS STORM BLASTS COUNTRY
Winds of up to 90mph and big freeze gives way to severe flooding
STORM Georgina brought high winds, downpours, floods and landslides to Scotland yesterday.
Commuters faced disruption on the roads and on public transport as new weather misery replaced last week’s snow and ice.
And forecasters said that winds of up to 90mph could batter some parts of the country.
A landslip on the main rail line between Edinburgh and Glasgow at Winchburgh hit services throughout yesterday.
Trains between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh stopped at Linlithgow, where replacement buses were laid on.
ScotRail reported “severe disruption” between Glasgow Central, Carlisle and Newcastle because of a landslide at Kirkconnel, where the A76 between Kilmarnock and Dumfries was also closed by the slip.
The M74 in Lanarkshire had flooding between junctions 12 and 13, the same stretch where drivers were trapped overnight in last week’s snow.
The A68 in the Borders at Jedburgh was also closed because of flooding as was the A72 in Lanarkshire between Rosebank and Dalserf.
The A9 Kessock Bridge at Inverness and the M90 Friarton Bridge east of Perth both had restrictions for highsided vehicles in place because of strong wind gusts.
The A92 Tay Bridge at Dundee and the A9000 Forth Road Bridge were closed to high-sided vehicles. And restrictions were also in place for a time on both the A87 Skye Bridge and the A876 Clackmannanshire Bridge.
Flooding caused “severe disruption” to rail services between Edinburgh, Dunblane and Alloa because the line between Edinburgh Haymarket and Linlithgow was flooded.
There was also “severe disruption” on the Glasgow Queen Street to Oban, Fort William and Mallaig service.
West coast ferry services were also severely affected. CalMac issued a “red” warning and cancelled all services between Mallaig and the Small Isles as winds hit 66mph.
An “amber” warning was issued for some services from Oban.
Argyll Ferries said that due to high winds, sailings on the Gourock to Dunoon route may be liable to disruption or cancellation at short notice.
Met Office yellow “be aware” warnings were issued for high winds in the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway and Strathclyde.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency issued 25 flood alerts in areas across the country where thawing snow has already led to problems with lying water.
Met Office spokesman Alex Burkill said: “Storm Georgina has arrived meaning it’s very windy across much of the UK, especially in Scotland.
“We could see gusts of up to 80mph and could even get up to around 90mph around the Western Isles.”
Meanwhile, rescuers searching for a hillwalker missing since Sunday on Ben Nevis are being hindered by severe weather.
Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team said: “The team have reluctantly decided to delay restarting the search.
“As soon as we get a window in the weather, then we will resume. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the missing person and we are sorry we cannot do any more.”