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Flooding situation
19/11/2009
Speaking as many parts of Scotland braced themselves for floods, Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham said:
"Flooding can have a disastrous impact on homes, communities and businesses. We are closely monitoring the developing situation, with heavy rain expected across many parts of the country, and myself, the Justice Secretary and the Transport Minister met with officials this morning in the Scottish Government's resilience room to ensure we remain fully updated.
"We will remain in close contact with local authorities and emergency services who are well-placed to respond on the ground and also with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Met Office."
The Scottish Government's Resilience Room (SGoRR) has been activated to monitor the developing flooding situation. Officials met earlier this morning and this was followed up with a meeting of Ministers and officials.
SGoRR will continue to monitor the situation throughout the day and keep in close contact with local authorities, emergency services, SEPA, the Met Office and Transport Scotland. Ministers are due to meet again tomorrow (Friday) but stand ready to do so earlier depending on how the situation develops.
At the moment there are 13 Flood Warnings and 17 Flood Watches in place across Scotland.
Further information is available from Floodline 0845 988 1188 or www.sepa.org.uk/flooding