A WEEKEND of heavy rain, high winds and melting snow left Newcastleton surrounded by water as the River Liddel burst its banks, recording its worst bout of flooding in recent times.

In the aftermath of the weekend weather, Scottish Borders Council, and its partners, are taking steps to support people who have been affected by the flooding and damage caused.

Around 15 people in Newcastleton were moved to the rest centre set up in the village's Health Centre on Saturday night as the village experienced the worst of the flooding.

One incident on Saturday night required crews from Carlisle East Fire Station to attend to rescue two people whose car had been swept off a Newcastleton road.

The SBHA (Scottish Borders Housing Association) will continue to visit their properties in Newcastleton, offering advice and providing alternative accommodation, in co-operation with other housing associations in the area.

SBHA Chief Executive Julia Mulloy said: “This has clearly been an extremely difficult and upsetting time for Newcastleton’s residents.

“We have an experienced housing team in Newcastleton assisting residents who we know have been badly affected by Storm Dennis and will continue to provide support as long as is required.”

SBC has also created a flood damage guide, to help residents clean and dry their properties. This guide can be found at www.scotborders.gov.uk/floodingadvice.

And on Sunday morning the council provided a skip based at Union Street for locals to throw away any damaged electrical or household items, as well as deploying street clean-up teams, including JCBs and street-sweepers, to fix minor road damage and clear away debris.

The region was battered by heavy rain on Saturday, February 15, with some areas being issued an Amber weather warning from the Met Office. This was followed by Yellow warnings of high winds for the whole of the Borders for Sunday and today (Monday 17).

On Sunday, Mark McLaughlin, Flood Duty Manager from SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) said: "It's been a challenging night for many parts of Scotland with a peak of three Severe Flood Warnings, 49 local Flood Warnings and 15 regional Flood Alerts issued.

"In consultation with Scottish Borders Council, SEPA issued the Severe Flood Warnings for areas in Hawick and Newcastleton, which saw some families evacuated from their homes and community rest centres set up.

"Flooding impacts in many other parts of Scotland also led to property flooding and localised flooding from surface water caused multiple road closures and other travel disruptions."

Other parts of the Borders such as Hawick and Jedburgh also experienced severe flooding.

SBC’s Executive Director Rob Dickson said: “We have taken forward an integrated recovery operation with a number of partners to assist communities across the Scottish Borders affected by Storm Dennis.

“This has been an extremely challenging period, particularly for residents in Newcastleton who have experienced the worst flooding event in recent times.

“SBHA is leading the co-ordination of housing support in Newcastleton and we will provide as much support as is necessary to their teams and the residents they are assisting.

“We have also had members of staff in the village to assist with the clean-up.

“Can I once again thank resilient community groups from across the Borders and our partners in the emergency services for their assistance during this incident.”

For all updates, including road closures, visit www.scotborders.gov.uk/stormdennis