Broxburn flooding: People rescued as homes in West Lothian flooded

A clean-up operation has begun after homes were flooded in the West Lothian area.

Emergency crews were called out to rescue residents in Broxburn who were stranded following Thursday's heavy rain.

Firefighters used boats to remove residents from their flooded homes. Many cars in the area were also up to their roofs in water.

More than 20 homes in the area are believed to have been flooded.

This is thought to include 17 social housing properties on Pyothall Court, and six private homes on Nicol Road.

Emergency services said residents concerned about flooding had phoned in from Broxburn, Ratho and Linlithgow on Thursday evening.

It said the evacuations were a "precautionary measure", and that no one had been injured.

Water levels receded after several hours, a spokeswoman confirmed.

West Lothian Council said it had assisted emergency services after a number of properties and roads, particularly in Broxburn, were affected.

A council spokesman added: "The community centre at Strathbrock Partnership Centre was opened as an emergency respite for centre for those impacted by the flood waters however no one in the end required accommodation through the night.

"A number of local roads remain closed with officers continuing to work with the emergency services this morning."

A spokesman for Scottish Canals said the Union Canal had been inspected, and that the flooding was a result of the heavy rain.

His comments followed speculation on social media that the canal had burst its banks.

He said: "After carrying out inspections of the Union Canal we are confident that the flooding which took place in Broxburn last night was the result of heavy rainfall and surface water runoff that overloaded local water courses and was not caused by water leaking from, or overtopping, the canal."

Broxburn resident Aimee Miller said that about 19:00 on Thursday she looked out her window to see her garden completely under water.

By the time her family was rescued by firefighters, she said the water was waist deep.

She told Good Morning Scotland that water got into her house and was quarter of the way up the wall.

Ms Miller and her partner are going to return to their home on Friday morning to assess the damage.

She expected a lot of cars on the street would be written off as they had been submerged in water.

Jean Hendrie, 70, had to leave her home in Pyothall Court after water came over a flood wall and poured into the property. She has gone to stay with her daughter.

She said: "Everything in the living room is ruined, the water was up to our knees. The carpets are ruined, the floors are ruined.

"The rain came on really heavy at about 17:00 and there is a burn behind the flood wall and the water came right over the wall.

"One of my neighbours was flooded and the water came right up to her kitchen worktops, and there are cars that are written off.

"We will not be able to stay here as the electricity is off, the carpet is soaked, there is silt everywhere."

She said nothing like this had happened in the 21 years she had lived there.

Elsewhere in the central belt, trains were cancelled and roads closed.

ScotRail warned that services across the country would be delayed or cancelled due to "extremely heavy rain flooding".

On Friday, the rail company tweeted that all lines affected by Thursday's heavy rain have now reopened, and services are able to run again.

Floodwater also closed some roads in the east end of Glasgow.

Traffic Scotland said the A77 near the A751, Cairnryan, Dumfries and Galloway, were restricted in both directions due to surface water affecting the carriageway.