FORECASTERS say Scotland looks set to escape a repeat of the torrential rain that pummelled the country last week, as floodwaters began to recede yesterday.

Experts at the Met Office said the weather this week would be unsettled, but it is unlikely heavy rains will return.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency scaled back its flood warnings yesterday, after homes in Edinburgh and other areas were deluged on Friday and Saturday.

Alerts remained in place for Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh, Speyside and the Borders, but the threat of flooding in these areas was downgraded from "imminent" to "possible".

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "There is a risk we will see heavy rain in the Borders with possible flooding, but most of the bad weather will be concentrated to the south in Northumberland and the north of England.

"I don't think we will see a return to the downpours of last week. There will be some rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, but nothing like as severe as we saw during the week."

Among many events across the country which fell victim to the weather at the weekend was the Taste of Edinburgh food festival. Organisers had already scrapped the Saturday session before abandoning yesterday's events at the Meadows park.

The event was to feature pop-up restaurants, chef demonstrations and exhibitors.

Organiser Justin Clarke said: "Despite all our planning, over the last 24 hours we have experienced some extremely heavy rainfall and our site at the Meadows has become severely flooded."

"We have been working throughout the night with our health and safety experts and the City of Edinburgh Council parks department to do what we can to make the site operational, but despite all our efforts we have been forced to cancel the show.

"This has not been an easy decision and we are all absolutely devastated. So much hard work has gone into making this show happen with the event team, sponsors, restaurants, suppliers and exhibitors all going above and beyond."

Refunds will be offered for both days, he said.

Edinburgh was one of the worst affected parts earlier in the day with road closures and the threat of flooding in residential areas.

The A720 city bypass was closed between Hermiston Gait and Straiton for a short time after 9am.

Firefighters were using pumps to deal with flooding in the Stockbridge Colonies area of the capital.

Up to 40 homes were affected by flooding from the nearby Water of Leith.

A city council spokesman said: "Sandbags have been provided to residents and the council's emergency social work team has also organised Stockbridge Primary School as a standby rest and information centre should any affected residents wish to leave their homes."

Emergency services said the situation improved later in the day.

Various flood warnings and alerts were in place across much of the east of Scotland, with rain concentrated in Edinburgh and the south-east in the morning.

The T in the Park festival, near Kinross, got off to a soggy start, with the Slam tent venue unable to open as scheduled because of the wet weather. The weather forecast is expected to improve tomorrow, organisers said.

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Meanwhile, it has emerged a council worker on the Isle of Mull who was praised for her workrate and quick-thinking when flooding washed away roads on Thursday night had previously been demoted from her post in a cost-cutting drive.

Engineer Kaz Bailey led the team that worked to divert water away from collapsed bridges on the B8035.

Mull Councillors Mary Jean Devon and Alistair MacDougall, along with Mull Community Council chairman Steve Willis, have now united to call for Ms Bailey's post to be reinstated.