Now for fury of Francis

Storm set to bring heavy rain with risk of flooding

SCOTLAND will be battered by Storm Francis today, bringing heavy rain and high winds that could last 30 hours.

Over coasts and hills, wind speeds are expected to top 50mph – but the biggest threat will come from torrential downpours.

Flooding is expected in the South-West of Scotland as threeand-a-half inches of rain (up to 90mm) could fall before the storm fizzles out by 6am tomorrow.

The Met Office has warned that the deluge could present ‘a danger to life’.

Its yellow warning – which began at midnight last night – covers an area including the A83 Rest and

Be Thankful in Argyll and the railway line south of Stonehaven, Kincardineshire.

A train was derailed by a landslide near Stonehaven earlier this month, killing three people and injuring six others.

Areas included in the latest weather warning are Central, Tayside and Fife, Grampian, SouthWest Scotland, Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde.

Nicky Maxey of the Met Office said: ‘Since we began naming storms in 2014, we have never had one in August. Now we have two.’

Last week, Storm Ellen gave Scotland a glancing blow, though high winds were blamed for a number of deaths in England.

Miss Maxey added: ‘For Scotland and Northern Ireland, the real worry is for the amount of rain which Storm Francis contains. It’s a low-pressure system being fired across the Atlantic by a jetstream running at 120 knots (138mph). It deepens rapidly as it arrives to a position which is pretty strong for this time of year.’

The Met Office says some communities could be cut off by flooded roads and travel services may be badly affected.

A ScotRail spokesman said: ‘We’re advising customers to check their journey on our app or website before they travel.’

CalMac ferry routes on the West Coast have been placed on a warning of a ‘heightened risk of disruption or cancellation’ at short notice.

Last night, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency issued ten flood alerts for today in regions as far apart as Aberdeen in the North and the Borders in the South.