Residents across northeast Scotland struggled to cope with the aftermath of the weekend’s floods yesterday, as forecasters warned that there could be more to come across the UK.

Heavy rain and strong winds battered the region on Sunday and forced many householders to flee their properties. Much of the UK was on flood watch last night as forecasters predicted storms for the west of England and Scotland today.

Parts of Scotland were virtually inaccessible yesterday, with roads closed and trains unable to operate. The devastation was worst in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, where the ground floors of homes were badly damaged and vehicles swept away.

Grampian Fire and Rescue Service said that about 100 people, including elderly care home residents, had to be rescued from properties in the town. Bed-bound residents from the Meadows Care Home were taken to the local hospital and others moved to a nearby hotel.

Raymond Strachan, 55, who has lived in Huntly for more than 12 years, said that flooding destroyed his caravan and Mitsubishi Warrior 4x4 vehicle. Speaking outside his home in Sycamore Place, he said: “Everything is destroyed on the ground floor. There was between 4.5ft and 5ft of water inside the house. I’ve never seen flooding like this before.”

He estimated the cost of the damage to his property would be between £10,000 and £15,000.

Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister and the local MP, visited the town and met representatives from the local council and the emergency services. He said: “Many families and elderly people have been affected by what has been the second round of flooding in as many weeks. Many people in Huntly and across northeast Scotland have had a miserable night and my thoughts are with everyone who has been affected.”

Mr Salmond also met part-time firefighter Craig Bowden, 47, who worked throughout the night pumping away floodwater as his own home, with his wife inside, filled up. “I didn’t get back to my house until 3am. I was coming home off duty to find there was a large incident here,” he said. “I was pumping water out of someone else’s house while mine was being flooded. My house was underwater and my wife was stuck upstairs — she had been there for six hours.”

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency said that the River Deveron, which passes near the town, rose 8ft to 9.9ft in 27 hours.

Houses in Stonehaven, farther south, were also hit. David Fleming, the chairman of Stonehaven Community Council, said that conditions were “horrendous”. Residents told of filling pillow cases and plastic bags with sand from the beach to try to protect buildings, after the rivers Cowie and Carron burst their banks.

The weather caused serious disruption to the transport network, with services between Dundee and Aberdeen and Aberdeen and Inverness paralysed for much of the day.

Grampian Police said that the weather may have contributed to a crash which killed a man in his 60s. The car he was driving collided with a lorry travelling in the opposite direction at 5.20am on the A90 Fraserburgh to Cortes road at Philorth, Aberdeenshire.

Thirty stranded motorists were accommodated in Moray Council’s rest centres at Keith, and the A941 road at Rothes was closed after a landslip.

Fire crews were called out to rescue a woman driver trapped in a river near Turriff. She had been driving along the B9025 when her car was overcome with water from the swollen river at the Deveron Bridge just before 4am.

Matt Dobson, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said the problems had been caused by a very deep area of low pressure which was moving away from the UK. However, he said, another heavy band of rain was moving into the west of Scotland and England.

This was expected to bring more showers — although not as extreme — overnight and into today.

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