Flood fears as Storm Bert heads into second day

Parts of Scotland are bracing for a second day of disruption with high winds and localised flooding after Storm Bert swept heavy snow and rain across the country.

The central belt was hit by more snow that anticipated early on Saturday, causing widespread problems on the roads. The M8 saw long traffic jams and two of the main routes south - the M74 and A68 - were closed for a time due to accidents.

Lothian buses suspended all of its 70 routes across Edinburgh and surrounding areas and there was disruption to the rail network.

But an amber weather warning for rain and snow in the east of Scotland was downgraded to a yellow warning for rain which will remain in place until 09:00 on Sunday.

In an unusual move, the Queensferry Crossing across the Firth of Forth was closed due to the threat of falling ice.

Traffic in the area was diverted via the Forth Road Bridge. The diversion was due to remain in place until 01:00 on Sunday.

David Bishop from the national road maintenance body Bear Scotland said the closure was due to concerns that ice sticking to the bridge's 70km of cable stays could fall and cause a "significant road traffic incident".

It is the first time since 2021 the bridge has closed.

All 700 buses in the Lothian Buses fleet ground to a halt for much of the day due to tough road conditions.

The company announced services were back to normal early on Saturday evening.

Edinburgh sightseeing buses were cancelled and there was disruption on Citylink, McGill's and First services.

A dramatic image shared on social media showed a bus which had left the road at Buchlyvie, a village in the Stirling area.

George Henry, head of road safety and road policy for Transport Scotland, said the conditions had been "challenging".

He said: "We have been treating our roads around the clock, our operating companies have been out and we have used over 240 gritters.

"Unfortunately there has been some impacts with various vehicles being stuck due to some vehicles losing traction at various location and we’ve tried to treat that as quickly as we can to minimise the disruption to the motoring public."

Mr Henry said particular incidents had impacted the M8 near Livingston and the M74 at various points on Saturday.

He added attention is now turning to the risk of localised flooding caused by the temperature rising and snow melting.

"There will be lots of surface water so we urge the motoring public when they are returning to the roads to please take care and drive to the conditions they are faced with," he added.

Regional flood alerts have been issued for parts of Dumfries and Galloway, west Borders, Central, Tayside, Aberdeenshire, Dundee and Angus regions.

While a flood warning urging people to "act now" is in place for the Churchill Barriers in Orkney.

A total of 11 SPFL games were called off with kick-off times delayed on another three, including two in the Premiership.

One of those called off was a league two match between Cove Rangers and Stenhousemuir, after the away team's bus got stuck in snow at Broxden Services outisde Perth.

Over 3,000 homes in England and Wales are without power. Scotland has not been hit as hard, with both Scottish Power and SSE reporting just a few localised faults.

The Met Office has warned a rapid thaw and subsequent rain may cause further disruption.

A yellow weather warning for rain and snow remains in place for most of Scotland until 09:00 on Sunday.

The Highlands and Argyll and Bute will see winds of up to 65mph on Sunday, with a yellow warning has been in place from 12:00 until 00:00.

Forecasters say Storm Bert will be quite slow moving and will only start to clear from Monday.