Specialist firefighters rescue people in Lothians and Borders as Storm Dennis poses 'risk to life'

Specialist firefighters have been deployed to carry out 15 water rescues across Scotland following severe flood warnings as Storm Dennis batters the country.

Linlithgow in West Lothian is one of the areas affected.

It follows severe flooding in the area last weekend as Storm Ciara cased the U1 off the A803 near the Sun factory to be closed.

Residents in Hawick in the Borders were evacuated as the River Teviot reached its highest levels since 2015 and Severe Flood Warnings indicated risk to life.

Fire Service Water Rescue Units are trained to help people in difficulty in rivers or floodwater during extreme weather.

Part of their equipment includes inflatable sleds used to recover casualties in challenging environments.

Assistant Chief Officer Paul Stewart of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “Crews have been working alongside our partners in extremely challenging conditions to ensure the safety of all residents in affected areas.

“We have been able to call upon specialist resources from across the East and West of Scotland, with more than 30 specialist water rescue firefighters mobilised to the area in response to the heightened flood risk.

“As such, we have been working very closely with partners and lead agencies throughout today to provide assistance where required and our resources remain available to protect Scotland’s communities.”

He added: “My thanks must go to our dedicated crews on the ground and our Operations Control staff, who have been working extremely hard across Scotland in response to severe weather related incidents in addition to normal 999 emergencies, as well as our partners and the resilient communities in the area.”

Edinburgh Castle, Zoo and Princes Street Gardens are closed today due to the bad weather.