Police Scotland declared a major incident in Peebles, as Storm Frank continued to batter Scotland.

A Severe Flood Warning was issued by SEPA, due to the impact of unprecedented flooding in the town and the risk to life and property.

Chief Inspector Andy McLean, Police Scotland’s Local Area Commander said: “We are currently dealing with a serious emergency incident and our resources and those of our partners are being prioritised in areas at greatest risk.

“People should not travel unless absolutely necessary in the central and western Borders and drivers must not, under any circumstances, ignore road closed signs."

Officers have also advised that residents are being evacuated from Riverside Drive in Aberdeen and moved to Norwood Hall, which has been opened as a rest centre.

High water levels are expected along the River Dee and flooding is expected as water moves down the course.

Chief Inspector Richard Craig said: "We are continuing to work with partner agencies to deal with flooding throughout the Grampian region.

"We would like to remind the public to avoid affected areas and to obey road closure signs. The roads are closed for a good reason and failure to obey these closures put you and emergency services at unnecessary risk.

Earlier, emergency services rescued 12 people stuck on a bus in Ayrshire after it was caught in floodwater.

Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the Royal Navy and the coastguard were all on the scene of the incident in Dailly.

The Herald:

It comes as more than 5,000 homes across the country have been left without power, causing major disruption to roads and leaving communities at risk of major damage..

Met Office amber "be prepared" warnings have been in place throughout the day, covering all mainland regions, with the exception of the Highlands, where there were yellow "be aware" warnings. 

Some areas of Dumfries have been evacuated after the River Nith bursts its banks, while the sporting programme has been affected with the live televised SPFL encounter between Dundee and Celtic postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

As dawn rose, pictures and videos began to emerge of the effects of the continuous overnight rain.

HeraldScotland has compiled a gallery of the most dramatic still images.

Our photographers Mark Gibson and Kirsty Anderson, together with George Munro from our sister title the Greenock Telegraph, also captured the video footage that you can see in the carousel at the top of this article.

A Twitter user, Tracy Armstrong, posted this dramatic footage from Straiton in Ayrshire.   

Much of Scotland was immediately put on flood alert this morning, with more than 60 flood warnings and 14 alerts issued, covering Aberdeenshire, Moray and Speyside to the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.

Roads authorities and the coastguard were urging people in the areas that experience severe weather to avoid unnecessary travel.

A motorist stranded in south Glasgow gets a push from the emergency services. Picture by Mark Gibson

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A spokesman for Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) confirmed this morning that a total of around 5,500 homes in Scotland were without power.

The areas affected include Shetland, the Western Isles and the west, north and north-east of Scotland.

In Aberdeenshire, around 1,700 homes are without power in areas including Fraserburgh, Kintore, Durris, Cruden Bay, and New Deer.

The spokesman said power would be restored during the day when it is safe for engineers to work.

Another motorist is the subject of a rescue bid in south Glasgow at Haggs Road. Picture by Mark Gibson

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He said the strong winds caused by Storm Frank had disrupted the network.

He added: "Our apologies for the disruption and the inconvenience caused. Our engineers are working as hard as they possibly can to restore supplies where it's safe to do so."

The chairman of the Environment Agency (EA) Sir Philip Dilley is due to visit flood victims today in north England after he returned from a Christmas holiday to Barbados amid criticism at the timing of his break during some of the worst storms in decades.

Communities in the Borders were told to prepare for up to 120mm of rain and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) currently has 18 flood warnings in place for the region, covering areas such as Peebles and Hawick.

Back in Glasgow, a Twitter user, Liberty T180, posted this picture of the junction of Kings Park Road and Cathcart Road shortly after dawn. 

Dundee FC warned that tonight's Scottish Premiership clash with Celtic at Dens Park might fall victim to the weather and scheduled a referee's pitch inspection for 1.15pm at which it was decided the game could not go ahead. 

Motorists battle the floods at Ballater in Aberdeenshire

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Meanwhile, road teams from BEAR Scotland were monitoring north-east and north-west trunk roads for any issues caused by the storm, warning of a landslip at the A835 at Garve in the Highlands.

Richard Brown, the head of hydrology at Sepa, told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The situation is still very much deteriorating. Although we have the 62 flood warnings in effect, we expect a big increase in that number as the morning goes by. Some of the smaller water courses have shown signs of peaking but the rain is going to continue and larger rivers are continuing to rise."

Scottish Transport Minister Derek Mackay added: "We expected challenging conditions and that's turning out to be the case. One of the ongoing issues will be the flood risk because the persistent rain will calm down later on in the day but we're still dealing with the risk of flooding to the transport system and indeed people's homes and businesses.

"Ministers met last night and will meet again today. We help coordinate and share information and ensure that all our agencies and partner organisations are connected and doing everything we can to both be resilient and keep the country moving."

He urged anyone travelling today to check weather information, plan their routes and drive to the conditions.

The Scottish Government's resilience committee has met to assess the response to what environment minister Aileen McLeod described as a "very serious situation".

Ms McLeod said: "We are dealing with a very serious situation as a result of Storm Frank

"It is imperative that people look for and take heed of the latest warnings, information and advice from Sepa, Police Scotland and Traffic Scotland.

"In particular, consider whether you need to travel and take all possible precautions to stay safe, particularly in the worst-affected areas."

Flooding forced the closure of roads across the regions and bus, rail and ferry services were all suffering disruption this morning.

Key routes including the M8 and the M74 had lanes and junctions shut due to surface water.

East Ayrshire Police tweeted this video of a surging river just after midday 

In East Ayrshire, travellers were asked to avoid New Cumnock and there were reports of cars stuck in water at Newark roundabout in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde.

The A83 was closed at Rest and Be Thankful due to a landslide and the A85 was shut after flooding at Crianlarich.

Meanwhile the A93 has also been totally washed away between Crathie and Ballater.

CalMac ferry sailings between Mallaig and Armadale and Oban and Craignure were cancelled, with the Largs to Cumbrae service also suspended.

ScotRail said services between Glasgow and Inverness, Carlisle and Kilmarnock were affected.

A number of properties in affected areas have been evacuated as floodwaters rise.

Ballater in Aberdeenshire was one of the areas hit due to flooding of the River Dee, and people in the village of Straiton in South Ayrshire were also being helped by the fire service to leave their properties.

The A77 south of Girvan at Maybole in Ayrshire was shut due to surface water.

Elsewhere, Glasgow's busy Great Western Road has been closed to eastbound traffic near Gartnavel Hospital due to "severe flooding" and Aikenhead Road in the city's southside was closed to all traffic with several feet of water on the road at one point.