THOUSANDS of Scots had a miserable start to the Christmas holidays as severe floods hit the country, causing dozens of homes to be evacuated.

Most of Scotland experienced a deluge of heavy rain over the weekend and environment protection agency Sepa issued a total of 31 flood warnings and 18 flood alerts as a result.

One of the worst-affected areas was Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, where about 100 properties had to be visited by emergency services after the Carron Water burst its banks.

The homes of about 40 people were evacuated as the flood water reached waist height.

Jill Paterson, who lives on the town's High Street, said: "I woke up at about 4.45am as there were a few car alarms going off in the street.

"When I looked out the window, you could see the water right down the middle of the street. It was just this kind of brown, gungey water.

"When I went to the bathroom, which is at the back of the house, the brown water was coming up through my bath and through the toilet.

"My heart was thumping in my chest."

A rendezvous point was set up at Market Square in the town, and Aberdeenshire Council transported people to a rest centre at Mackie Academy.

The flooding came back only a week after 60 people were evacuated from properties in Stonehaven and Peterhead when gale-force winds and high tides hit the area.

Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse praised the relief work by emergency response teams and volunteers, and encouraged the public to continue to exercise caution, with weather conditions forecast to improve.

He said: "Across the country, in locations affected by flooding such as Arbroath, Brechin, Stonehaven and in the Northern Isles, which have been affected by severe winds, determined work has been happening at local level to support members of the public at what has been a testing time."

Residents in Aberdeenshire faced a further blow as Aberdeen City Council issued a warning, with temperatures expected to fall overnight.

Falling temperatures last night brought the risk of treacherous conditions for pedestrians and motorists.

Salt laid on roads and footpaths was expected to have been washed away by the prolonged heavy rain.

Meanwhile, ScotRail reported a landslip in the area of Cairnrobin Level Crossing between Montrose and Aberdeen, with no trains running between the two stations.

Services from Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street to Aberdeen were disrupted, with trains terminating and starting at Dundee and replacement transport in operation.

Tayside was severely affected by the heavy rain, with a total of 19 flood warnings in place for the area and multiple road closures.

The town of Brechin in Angus was particularly badly hit, and was placed on alert after water levels rose at the River South Esk.

They later receded to below the level of the bank, but Tayside Police continues to keep a close watch on the area.

A Met Office spokesman said the Northern Isles also faced some of the most atrocious conditions, with high gales plus sleet and snow on higher ground.

Serco NorthLink Ferries warned that sailings between the Northern Isles and Aberdeen, which have not run since Thursday, had been cancelled again because of high winds. The firm said there were unlikely to be any sailings until Boxing Day if current weather forecasts proved accurate.

Parts of southern England and Wales have also been hit by severe floods, with Lostwithiel in Cornwall and the area around Barnstaple in North Devon among the worst-affected, along with parts of south Wales.

The Environment Agency has described the situation in the Midlands as a big winter flood with levels in places on the river Severn as high as they have been since the summer 2007 storms.

However, a Met Office spokesman said it was an improving picture for Scotland in time for Christmas.

"Christmas Day looks as if it will be a fairly cloudy day, especially in the west with a few showers, but most will be on the light side.

"There will be breaks in the cloud with the best of the sunshine over Angus and Aberdeenshire and the East, but it doesn't look as if we'll see any snow."

A spokeswoman for Sepa advised people to remain vigilant after the flooding and to use the Sepa floodline and listen to their local radio station for weather updates.

She said: "We are expecting river levels to fall away, which will hopefully give people a bit of reassurance, but there has been severe impact and the ground is saturated, so quite a lot of the rivers will remain high."