Residents in Borders communities covered by an amber weather warning for rain are being urged to prepare as Storm Babet continues to affect the area.
The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for rain which comes into effect at 12noon on Friday morning and runs until 6am on Saturday. This covers a large part of the central and eastern Scottish Borders, including Galashiels, Kelso, Lauder, Duns and Cockburnspath.
A wider area covering the whole of the Berwickshire and as far west as Peebles is also under a yellow weather warning for rain, which runs until midnight on Saturday night.
A yellow weather warning for wind also runs up the eastern half of the Borders, from 12noon on Friday to 12noon on Saturday.
Significant rainfall
Within the amber warning area up to 60mm of rain is expected widely, with up to 120mm possible on east-facing high ground over the course of the 18 hours. Strong easterly winds may exacerbate the impacts of the heavy rain.
Due to the persistent and at times heavy rain and already saturated ground, river and surface water flooding is likely, particularly within the amber warning area. Residents are urged to put in place property-level flood defences where they have these available.
Flood risk
The main risk of river flooding is currently expected to be associated with the Whiteadder, Blackadder, Leader and Eye Water. The Bowmont Water and potentially the Gala Water and Eddleston Water may also be impacted.
Due to the risk of wave overtopping in our coastal communities, flood barriers have been deployed in Eyemouth and will likely remain in place for several days.
All our sandbag stores are fully stocked to assist residents in affected areas.
A multi-agency control centre will operate throughout the amber warning period to manage responses as required.
Keep updated
Updates will be provided through the free emergency messaging service SB Alert, a dedicated page our website and social media channels.