The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service received more than 1,000 emergency calls overnight due to severe weather, it has emerged.
Crews were mobilised to a number of flooding incidents caused by heavy rain, and fires believed to have been caused by the weather across Scotland, with the east and north of the country particularly affected.
Between 10pm on Tuesday, August 11 and 8am on Wednesday, August 12, the service’s Operations Control room in Edinburgh received more than 500 emergency 999 calls, almost 400 of which were related to flooding, while Dundee received 300 calls and Johnstone more than 200.
This included calls to a significant landslide at a caravan park at Pettycur Bay in Fife affecting 450 caravans. Crews assisted in the rescue of 27 people and also the relocation of 218 people from the site.
Major incident declared in Fife following overnight thunderstorms
A further 14 people were rescued by firefighters following significant flooding on the M8 motorway, where a number of cars were submerged between junctions 5 and 6.
Six fire appliances and more than 20 firefighters were mobilised to a fire within a kitchen showroom in Falkirk.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms which is currently in place for parts of the country until Thursday, August 13
Ross Haggart, deputy chief officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, commented: “This has been an extremely challenging night where we received an incredibly high number of calls, making this one of the busiest nights the service has seen this year so far.
“We have particularly seen high numbers of flooding calls from the Lothian, Falkirk and Fife areas which were badly affected by serious rainfall – resulting in a significant localised response from the national service.
“Crews also attended a number of other serious incidents including road traffic collisions and fires which may have been caused by the weather.
“My thanks must go to our crews and Operations Control for their outstanding work overnight in very challenging conditions, and to our partners for their continued assistance.
“This was an exceptional weather event and the number of severe weather incidents are increasing and as a Service we must be prepared to respond to protect communities.
“We will continue to respond to incidents across Scotland, however we would urge people to be aware of the forecast where they are, and be aware of the risks.
“Do not under any circumstances attempt to drive through flooded areas as you may become trapped, and take steps to protect yourself and your property from floodwater where necessary.”
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