Scotland is braced for another day of deluges and flooding as heavy rain sweeps across the country.

The Met Office warned that some areas could see at least an inch of rain falling on already saturated ground.

Strong winds could worsen conditions, particularly surface water flooding, as leaves and debris block drains and channels.

The worst of the weather is expected to hit the Central Belt of Scotland.

There are reports of a serious accident involving two lorries on the A9 southbound near Perth. It is not initially known if the accident, which has blocked one lane of road, is weather related.

An amber warning for heavy rain is in place for much of Strathclyde, Dumfries & Galloway, Stirling, Perth and Kinross and the southern Highlands.

A separate "be aware" warning covers most of the rest of Scotland except Orkney, Caithness & Sutherland and part of Grampian.

Transport Minister Keith Brown warned: "I would urge the travelling public and motorists to take extra care in areas that experience testing conditions."

On Monday, more than 100 residents were evacuated from their homes in the Perthshire village of Comrie and transport links were cut off after persistent heavy rain caused flooding.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has 12 flood alerts in place for Thursday with more expected to be issued throughout the day.

Sepa's Marc Becker said: "Areas likely to be worst affected are those which experienced flooding earlier in the week.

"In particular, Dumfries and Galloway, Western Tayside, Argyll and Central will be susceptible to further river flooding.

"If rain clears the east coast of Scotland by tomorrow evening, conditions should then improve.

"At present, there are 12 flood alerts in place, covering Argyll and Bute, Ayrshire and Arran, Dumfries and Galloway, Central, Dundee and Angus, Edinburgh and Lothians, Fife, Scottish Borders, Skye and Lochaber, West Central Scotland, Western Isles and Tayside.

"To assist with operational responses, Sepa is providing Scotland's emergency services and other responders with regular updates on forecast river and coastal flooding and we continue to monitor the situation.

"Members of the public in areas which could be affected are encouraged to remain vigilant and mindful of the conditions in their locality, especially if travelling."

Elsewhere in the UK, the South West and Wales are expected to bear the brunt of the weather as a low pressure system moves eastwards across the country, bringing gusts of up to 70mph and extremely heavy rain.

Sally Webb, forecaster with MeteoGroup, said: "This weather is very common for autumn, it is just unfortunate that it seems to keep coming at the moment."

While today is expected to be a washout, tomorrow should be bright and breezy, with sunny spells and scattered showers in the west.

Mr Brown warned more rain was likely to hit the country later.

"We have a further bank of rain to come across from Northern Ireland later on in the morning," he told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme

"And we are seeing some flooding and also one or two trees coming down on local roads.

"Perhaps not as bad as we had expected but the morning is young and we have to wait to see what the rest of the day brings."

He also said there was "no question the climate is changing" with flooding seemingly more common.

Mr Brown said: "We are seeing some change. "That means we have to have, whether councils or government, we have to have a different response to that.

"We have to do things to make sure we mitigate the effects of this but there is no question we seem to be seeing an increasing incidence of flooding these days."

The bad weather does not seem to have caused many problems so far.