Flood alerts issued as Scotland braced for thunderstorms and heavy rain

Parts of the east coast of Scotland could be hit by flooding following heavy rain forecast over the next 12 hours.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has issued three flood alerts for Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City, Tayside, and Dundee and Angus.

SEPA is warning that flooding is possible in these areas and that residents should be prepared.

It comes as the Met Office issued a warning for thunderstorms covering much of the Highlands, Moray, Aberdeenshire, and parts of Angus.

The warning will come into force at 1pm on Wednesday, August 5 and last until 9pm.

The weather service is warning of slow-moving heavy showers, lightning and gusty winds, which could cause localised flash flooding.

The yellow warning zone includes places like Aberdeen, Inverness, Elgin, Aviemore, Pitlochry, and Montrose.

These places are also included in the SEPA flood zone.

SEPA warned in a statement: “Heavy and thundery showers in some places could cause minor flooding impacts on Wednesday afternoon and evening. Not all areas will see the heaviest showers.

“However, if the heaviest rain falls over urban areas or the transport network, there could be localised flooding of low-lying land, roads, properties and travel disruption.

“There could also be flooding from small rivers and watercourses.”

The heavy rain will be a welcome relief for some rivers, which were experiencing low levels for weeks due to the prolonged dry weather.

Water restrictions were put in place to protect rivers across the Borders, Angus, Aberdeenshire and Fife, which were reaching “significant scarcity” in the dry spell had continued.

SEPA introduced restrictions on water abstractions in rivers such as the Tay Estuary, the North River Teviot and Ettrick Water.

On Monday, they introduced restrictions on a further 48 licences to abstract water from the environment, primarily affecting agricultural activities.

The restrictions apply to the Tay Estuary, North, River Teviot and Ettrick Water, after the areas reached a state of Significant Water Scarcity.

They follow restrictions already introduced in the Lunan Water, Lower Don, North Fife and East Neuk areas, which remain in place.

SEPA says it will continue to monitor river levels and will lift restrictions as soon as conditions recover.