Floods, gales, ice and snow a typical Scottish February

Eskdale and Liddesdale struggle through atrocious winter weather this week

Scotland said officers all over Dumfries and Galloway were dealing with a number of road traffic collisions.
A yellow weather warning remained in place for ice and drivers should expect untreated roads to be affected by ice and to slow down and drive accordingly.
Early on Tuesday morning the M74 one mile south of junction 12 at Millbank on the southbound carriageway was closed temporarily after an HGV had to be recovered after tipping on its side and blocking all three lanes.
The northbound carriageway remained open but only with extreme care.
In Newcastleton the Liddel Water burst its banks and came close to flooding properties on Sunday.
The resilience team was ready to evacuate houses and the village hall was opened to take in residents but, in the end, it was not needed.
On Saturday at 11pm Scottish Borders Council alerted people to the Met Office’s amber weather warning for rain from 2am to 10am on Sunday. A yellow weather warning for wind was also in place.
The council opened its emergency planning centre overnight to ensure the situation was monitored closely and teams could respond as needed.
After the heavy rain and flooding overnight Saturday into Sunday, a weather warning for snow and wind was issued.
Pauline Elliot of the village’s resilience team said: “Our remit was to bring together resources and arrange to get sandbags out as well as help the fire and rescue service and the council.
“Some volunteers went to the village hall because we were very close to starting an evacuation.

The river had burst its banks and was halfway up Union Street. George Street was flooded mainly with surface water, Stopford Street was pretty bad and Walter Street had quite a lot of water.
“The flood warning was issued at about 1.30am and the river was starting to come onto the road when the warning went out.
“In the end, no one had to evacuate their homes. The rain eased off but it was very close.
“We had plenty of volunteers. Most of them had been woken up themselves by the flood warning.
“I think we got off lightly. The SEPA gauge showed the river level rose 2.975m and the highest

recorded was just over three metres.”
Pauline added: “I would like to highlight the support from the community and the fire service was fantastic.
“I’d also like to mention the council. We were in contact with them in their bunker and got sandbags brought down to the village. The Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team were also on stand-by.”
By 6pm on Sunday the flood warning was no longer in force for the village.
On Sunday afternoon a resident of Whitrope said the road to Hermitage was in such a bad state that the police had been called.”