Three rescued from flooded cars

Three people have been rescued after floodwater engulfed their cars in North Lanarkshire.

Firefighters used a boat to rescue a woman and a girl from a flooded car at Airdrie railway station.

They also waded out to an elderly woman whose car got stuck in deep water in the town's Cairn Hill Road.

Elsewhere, in Fife some houses were left in up to 5ft of water while a road outside Victoria Park, Jordanhill, Glasgow, also became flooded.

Emergency services have been working to clear water from homes and businesses after torrential rain battered Fife for the second time in a week.

Some houses were inundated with water after a reported 31mm of rain was recorded at RAF Leuchars overnight.

Central parts of the region were the worst hit, with Fife Fire and Rescue Services called out to 68 incidents.

Several road closures have caused major problems for commuters.

The fire service had to deal with a string of weather-related incidents amid reports that properties in Freuchie and Cupar were flooded.

Sandbags were distributed on Wednesday morning as part of the joint operation between local fire and council crews.

Grandmother Catherine O'Connor, 67, said she has not been able to contact her daughter and her new husband, currently on honeymoon in Vancouver, after their home was flooded.

Mrs O'Connor was alerted by a call from her two teenage grandchildren on Wednesday morning to say they were trapped upstairs.

She said: "The downstairs was really flooded - the fridge freezer took a walk right across the kitchen.

"The garden was underwater and the firefighters have been pumping it all out. "I've no idea what my daughter will say, it's a terrible thing to come home to."

Ross Robertson, 28, from Freuchie Mill, said there was a "scene of devastation" around him.

He said: "I would say there are about 20 properties that have been flooded in this immediate area.

"We need monsoon ditches like they have in the Tropics because that's what the rain's been like"
Robert Balfour
Farmer
In pictures: Fife flooding

"The water is up to some resident's letter boxes. One of my neighbours who had been away over night was in tears after she found her house flooded.

"Everyone who parked their car in the car park in front of the flats has had it written off by the flood waters."

In Tayside, concerns were raised about the Barry Burn in Carnoustie, which threatened to bursts its banks as high tide arrived at about 1330 BST.

Local fire crews worked to pump water away from nearby homes into fields and Tayside Police closed off footpaths around the burn.

Police said the threat of flooding in the area was now subsiding.

Alan Mann, group manager in community safety intervention with Fife Fire and Rescue, said the rain had been "pretty extreme" but the area was showing signs of drying out.

Saturated ground

A fire service spokesman added: "We have had numerous flooding calls throughout central Fife, from north to south, for most of the evening and early morning.

"We've had numerous appliances out attending to flooding situations."

Robert Balfour, a farmer from Freuchie, near Glenrothes, described the weather as "crazy".

He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "We need monsoon ditches like they have in the tropics because that's what the rain's been like.

"We've got flooding on the farm itself with houses potentially about to be flooded, so we're taking action there immediately before we move on to try and clear some of the ditches as best we can.

"It's crazy. We should be on a combine, not a digger trying to dig out drains. The crops are still standing but this rain is not doing them any good."

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said it was monitoring river levels and coastal conditions across the area to assess the likelihood of further flooding.

It warned the already saturated ground conditions made disruption more likely.

Fife was hit by similar rain levels at the weekend, causing streams to burst their banks and landslides.

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