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Rains shut roads and kill 400 sheep

As flooding subsided it revealed the loss of livestock. It is feared that more than 400 sheep in west Scotland have drowned
As flooding subsided it revealed the loss of livestock. It is feared that more than 400 sheep in west Scotland have drowned
TWITTER /INNOVIS LTD

A key route through the Scottish Borders has partially reopened after heavy rainfall caused damage to a bridge.

The A702 had been shut at the Westwater Bridge in West Linton in order to assess the scale of the problem.

A diversion was in place for several hours before it reopened with temporary traffic lights yesterday. Drivers were being diverted via the A701 and the A721/72 while local access was maintained for residents up to the bridge.

The road was closed in both directions south of West Linton from 1am on Wednesday and coincided with the train strikes, which continued to cause travel chaos across Scotland.

The closure comes as southern Scotland was struck by heavy rain and a number of weather warnings.

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The River Nith, in Dumfries, burst its banks after prolonged rainfall on Friday. The clean-up operation to remove debris continues and has reportedly faced delays as dozens of commercial and domestic properties were damaged in the floods.

Farmers in the area now also fear that more than 400 sheep in west Scotland have drowned in the same floods.

The extent of the damage to livestock was only revealed this week when the flooding subsided, revealing the carcasses of the drowned sheep.

Some were found dead where they had been grazing, while others had been carried further downstream, with their corpses washing up miles away. It is feared that many of the casualties were pregnant ewes.

Innovis, a supplier of sheep-breeding technologies to the UK livestock industry, said it lost 40 sheep in the floods on December 30. Now, it says it believes that more than 400 sheep grazing in the area have also been lost.

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The Scottish Environment Protection Agency said that dramatic rainfall at the end of December had resulted in a “rapid and extreme rise” and the Nith recorded its highest levels, exceeding Storm Frank in 2015 and the floods of December 1982.