YOUR car is stuck in the snow.

You've been flooded thanks to gales. Storms have blacked out your home, or sent a tree crashing through your living room window.

Who's going to help? The police? Paramedics? Firefighters? Well, how about the Red Cross?

The international medical ­organisation, usually found in war zones and helping out with overseas disasters, has some 6000 volunteers across Scotland helping out with weather-related crises closer to home.

Last week, the charity dealt with hundreds of incidents as the ­country was battered by winter storms which left thousands of households without power for days.

During the worst of the weather, Red Cross volunteers were deployed through northern Scotland and the Western Isles.

Anne Eadie, who ­co-ordinates the British Red Cross ­emergency response in the Highlands, said volunteers checked on the ­vulnerable - those with medical problems or new-born babies.

The charity works closely with the NHS, councils and power firms to identify these households in advance and sometimes transport the sick to reception centres.

Eadie said 21st-century living meant power cuts had a huge impact on the public.

"You go to use your mobile phone and can't ... there's no fuel because they can't pump it," she said. "Shops can't open as their chillers are all electronic and folk can't get cash out of cash machines. It is all those things you take for granted."

Hazel Lynch, 32, from Inverness, who has been a volunteer with the Red Cross for nearly a decade, was tasked with helping set up a rest and communications centre in Fortrose in the Black Isle last week, as well as delivering heaters into a carehome in Dornoch which had been left without power.

The Red Cross also helps out with house fires and other emergencies. Its support vehicles provide welfare facilities in a van for people who have lost their homes - supplying everything from a cup of tea to care for a family pet.

David Morison, British Red Cross emergency planning and response development officer for Scotland, said: "Our staff are trained in psycho-social support and can ­signpost people to insurance ­companies and to local authorities, to help try and get their ­properties back up and running or go to ­alternative accommodation.

"I've seen families standing on the street having lost their living room, their kitchen, a couple of bedrooms. They don't know what to do as they are overcome with stress and the fact they have got somebody there who can just talk to them - it helps them onto the recovery route."

The Red Cross also has a all-terrain Unimog vehicle, which is equipped to set up a full ­communications base, with medical facilities, in any area ranging from festival sites to the most remote area.

Last Wednesday, it helped after Thomas Welch, a teacher from Lochgilphead, who unexpectedly ground to a halt in snowy ­conditions just 10 miles from home.

The 27-year-old, who has the lung disease cystic fibrosis, was ­becoming increasingly cold after being stranded for four hours when Red Cross volunteer Dave Young appeared to offer assistance.

"He came in and had a chat with me to check how my breathing was and then he pulled us up the hill and back to safety which was ­amazing," Welch said.

"I would never have thought about the Red Cross being here in Scotland to help me."