Travel Warning For Scotland As Storm Agnes Batters Country; Could Cause Floods

People travelling to Scotland have received a flood warning as the country is due to endure wet and blustery weather due to Storm Agnes, the first named storm of the 2023-24 season.

Storm Agnes is expected to strike parts of Scotland this week and is likely to bring disruption from heavy rain and high winds.

Heavy rains have already begun across certain parts of England and Scotland and as per the forecast, the belting rains could last until Thursday. The new alert is concentrated in the southeast, affecting Strathclyde, Borders, Grampian and the Central Belt.

The Met Office in Scotland has already put a "danger to life" weather warning for wind on Wednesday and Thursday. This alert was updated on Monday morning to cover northwest Scotland.

Certain regions in Scotland could see up to 60mm of rainfall and forecasters are warning of possible flooding resulting in travel disruption and property damage. Bus journeys are likely to be disrupted, with journey times by road also taking longer with a chance of a possible road closure.

"While the precise track and depth of Storm Agnes is still being determined, there's a high likelihood of wind gusts around 50 to 60mph for some inland areas," Steve Ramsdale, Chief Meteorologist of the Met Office, said in an interview.

Storm Agnes was a result of a deep area of low pressure developed in the Atlantic, enhanced by some energy from a former tropical storm, Ophelia, which hit the north-east coast of the US over the weekend.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has put out a number of flood warnings and alerts in place.

As per news reports, in Dumfries and Galloway, roads were shut at Whitesands and the A716 north of Drummore on Wednesday evening. The region's virtual operations support team revealed there were some reports of fallen trees, and also ensured that staff would be out at first light to carry out checks and clear away debris.

In regards to the railways in Scotland, Network Rail said speed restrictions had been introduced during the storm, mainly affecting services on the West Highland Line. Other routes involved were Kilwinning to Largs, Kilmarnock to Sanquhar, Branchton to Wemyss Bay, Barrhill to Stranraer, Sanquhar to Annan and Lockerbie to Abington.

Meanwhile, Ferry operator CalMac also advised anyone using its services to check its status page on the website for updates.

The new storm season for 2023 to 2024 officially began on Sept. 1, leading to a new set of storm names collectively established by the Met Office, Met Éireann and Netherlands weather service KNMI.

According to Met Éireann, storms are named when they could possibly cause medium or high impacts in one of the three partner countries. As the list is made alphabetically, Agnes is the first storm of the season.