Flood warning downgraded after less rain than initially forecast

The risk of flooding in North of Scotland communities has been downgraded after less rain fell overnight than expected.

The Met Office issued an amber weather warning from midnight on Tuesday, covering Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch, Strathspey and parts of Ross-shire and Moray.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) issued an alert for "severe" flooding just after 6am, telling residents in the Aviemore and Dalfaber areas to "act now"; however, this was downgraded by 7.45am with no "severe" flood warnings in place.

Highlands Council had previously advised guests staying at Aviemore Holiday Park to seek alternative accommodation due to the "imminent" risk of flooding, while Sepa had predicted that evacuations were expected.

The watchdog previously said river levels began to rise on Tuesday morning, rather than overnight as expected.

Sepa added: "Overnight, water levels on the River Spey did not rise as expected.

"It did begin to rise early on Tuesday morning and that will continue into the day. Less rain fell overnight than was forecast, but is continuing to affect the area."

But by 7.45am, there were no "severe" flood warnings in Scotland and the warning was downgraded.

However, at the time of writing, 37 flood warnings and 10 flood alerts have been issued by Sepa.

The Met Office amber weather warning predicts rain on New Year's Eve in the Highlands, with a yellow weather warning for snow covering Glasgow and another yellow warning for snow covering Orkney.

Travel Disruption

Parts of the A9 and A96 have been affected by flooding this morning.

The A9 at Tomich was closed in both directions at around 07:30 while according to Traffic Scotland the A96 between Forres and Elgin was restricted due to flooding.

After being shut for most the day, Police Scotland say one lane of the A832 between Fortrose and Avoch on the Black Isle will be re-opened under traffic control from 6.30pm tonight.

Officers received reports of a landslide at 8.30am, affecting both sides of the road.

Several B roads were also shut because of either flooding or snow across the North of Scotland.

The rail line between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh, the Highland Main Line and the Far North line are all closed.

Network Rail Scotland say they are dealing with 15 flooding incidents on the Far North Line and a landslip near Brora.

A video posted by Network Rail Scotland earlier this morning shows how river levels at the Gynack Burn at Kingussie were well above safety limits.

Just before 11am, Sepa updated their website to say 37 flood warnings were in place, but none of them severe.

Most of these are in the Speyside and Tayside areas.