FLASH floods caused major disruption around Stirling last night, leading to the closure of three schools.

Port Street and Murray Place were amongst the worst-hit after a deluge of rain flooded parts of the city centre and surrounding areas.

Wallace High School, Ochil House and Castleview Primary School were all closed today due to heavy rain and severe flooding.

At Wallace, water damaged ceiling tiles and flooded parts of the Ochil House kitchen.

Early indications suggest the school will be back on on Wednesday, June 26, but confirmation will be provided on Stirling Council’s social media channels.

The local authority’s Customer First unit on Port Street was also forced to close its ground floor, with flooding temporarily impacting the Contact Centre telephone number.

Emergency council customer services have been relocated to Teith House while repairs are carried out. Residents can still use the 01786 40 40 40 number during this period.

Councillor Jim Thomson, convener of the Environment and Housing Committee, said: “It’s hard to remember such severe flash flooding like this in Stirling with so little warning but as conditions deteriorated last night, council staff responded quickly with partners in the Police and Fire and Rescue Service to react to the damage and disruption caused by the weather.

“Our praise goes to the people who were first on the scene and all the teams who worked long into the night to get as many roads and footpaths open as possible in the wake of such a swift turn in the weather.”

The A9 Burghmuir Road on Station Underpass was closed before 9pm as the teams were deployed to the city centre and Blairlogie to assist with clear up operations.

Contractors were tasked with clearing Burghmuir Road and Causewayhead Road once the heavy rain subsided, while sandbags were deployed at Springkerse.

Emergency work was carried out on the footpath at Broad Street and Bow Street as work continued into the night to repair as much of the damage caused by the deluge.

By 1.30am, flooding was cleared on the A9 Burghmuir Road, with Bridghaugh at the Rugby Club following soon after at 3am. Causewayhead fully reopened at 3.30am.

Cllr Danny Gibson, vice convener of the Environment and Housing Committee, added: “It is always difficult to quantify exactly how much disruption will be caused by an extreme weather event such as this, but our teams responded excellently.

“Work continues today to fully assess the damage and our clean-up operation is well underway to ensure roads, underpasses and schools are able to function normally.”