HOMES were evacuated, buildings damaged and roads blocked as more than half-a-month's worth of rain caused chaos around the capital in the space of four hours yesterday.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service had to deal with 13 flooding incidents involving flats, houses and roads.

Blocked drains and pipes were given as the cause in most cases as flooding - in some areas more than a foot deep - hit Edinburgh. Nobody was believed to be injured in any of the incidents, which began at around 1.30pm, with the last alert at around 5.15pm.

A fire service spokeswoman said: "It seemed every time the heavy rain came down, the phones rang, because it was causing flooding."

The Met Office said there were no advance yellow alerts over the flash floods, which resulted in 27.8mm of rain recorded at Edinburgh Gogarbank yesterday. The average rainfall for May is 50mm.

A four-storey block of flats in ­Clarence Street had to be evacuated after a ceiling collapsed when rain­water leaked inside at around 4.35pm.

Traffic Scotland said floodwater was up to bumpers on the A90 between Cramond Brig Toll and the Forth Road Bridge, which had to be closed for an hour. Motorists were stuck in traffic for up to two hours as firefighters cleared the road using water pumping equipment after being alerted at 5.15pm.

Traffic Scotland called on drivers to be cautious due to surface water throughout Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde.