River bursts its banks in Inverness

The River Ness burst its banks in the centre of Inverness this afternoon as a high tide combined with a flood surge.

Huntly Street and Bank Street, on opposite sides of the river, were affected while one house in Douglas Row was flooded.

Contractors working on a flood alleviation scheme in the area had placed sand bags along the banks while Highland Council also made sand bags available to nearby residents. Further along the river, sand bags were put in place in Anderson Street as a precautionary measure.

Inverness firefighters, who dealt with "minor flooding" in Huntly Street just before 1.30pm, also checked out an electricity sub-station near the Shore Street roundabout which was under water soon afterwards.

Meanwhile, Inverness High School will remain closed tomorrow after a section of flat roof blew off the main building. Hundreds of pupils were sent home this morning for their safety.

Richard Evans, Highland Council’s acting head of road and community works said: "Since 5am this morning we have been responding to calls outs regarding fallen trees and debris across roads and our staff have been working to clear roads and keep traffic moving."

Roads affected included the A862 between Inverness and Beauly and the B852 between Dores and Foyers.

* Buy tomorrow's Inverness Courier for more on the impact of the storm.