03/01/2016 Reporting Scotland

We are back with the late news at 10pm.

There are warnings of flooding and large coastal waves tonight,

as persistent wind and rain batter parts of Scotland.

The Met Office has issued amber be prepared alerts of rain for much

Our reporter Aileen Clarke is in Ballater, where new barriers

aim to prevent a repeat of last week's floods.

The River Dee at Ballater today and on its banks, an illustration of how

destructive it can be. At the local church this afternoon, a special

Service of Thanksgiving. It's thanksgiving for the community.

Donations coming in. You name it, we are getting it and we can thank

everybody enough. We really can't. The committee could find itself

flooded again and it's led to this massive barrier being built. There

is now 800 tonnes of sand making up this barrier and the idea is if the

river burst its banks again and comes over here through the golf

course, the barrier will stem it and turn it around to run back into the

river down there. And even here, much help from volunteers. We opened

a 5am to fill the bags up. Local companies have given us machinery,

drivers, to physically get the bags here. We had to buy guns -- wagons

over the weekend. Last night, Aberdeen lifeboat crew helped

restore power line the river. Today work continues to check all the

properties that have been flooded, and reconnect them but it will take

more than electricity to put Ballater back on its feet. The golf

course is virtually wiped out. And the caravan park. We just hope and

pray that tourism will continue and tourists will support Ballater. For

those people still trying to salvage possessions, the thought of more

flooding is more than they can bear. Very frightened and scared.

Aileen, how worried are people there?

Well, so far, this massive barrier featured today has not been in

service, the river has not burst its banks so far. I'm told the next key

point all those who are watching to see what's going to happen is going

to be between 5am and 6am tomorrow, the next high water mark we are

concerned about about eight miles from here on the outskirts... I'm

sorry, we have lost that link. Four. The Deputy First Minister has

defended cutting the budget to SEPA, the agency responsible for flood

warning and flood risk management. In his recent draft budget

for the next financial year, John Swinney reduced

the agency's funding by 6%. Scottish Labour says local

authorities affected by flooding are struggling to find

sufficient funds. The Scottish Government says it's

committed to doing all it can. Capital funding is in place

for flood prevention schemes What we do is to make sure that all

of the preventative activity that we can undertake is put in place to

support communities in establishing a much more resilient approach to

dealing with flooding and to ensure that we support communities where

these very harsh things take their course. We need a review with local

authorities to identify priority areas. Where we have had investment

we can see the difference is made to those communities. With climate

change and extreme weather this year, I would argue we need a proper

review noted a cutout to progress over the next few years.

We've already heard, still no let up in sight

Tuesday we will see things improving. It is an intense spell of

rain across this part of the world. Thank you, Sally. The rain coming

tonight and into tomorrow. We do have an amber "be prepared" warning.

It's a persistent rain falling already. The warning is right

through until late tomorrow night. The reason for all this is we have

low pressure to the south. High over Scandinavia, weather fronts banging

in just keep coming, bringing rain along with strong south-easterly

winds driving the rain across the sensitive north-east corner. A wet

night to come. We have coastal areas to contend with. Rain for most of us

initially but then becomes drier in southern and Scotland overnight.

4-5dC. Tomorrow, and east-west split for much of the day. Western

Scotland loses rain and becomes drier. Some brightness, some showers

but the rain keeps driving across eastern Scotland. An amber warning

in force. The wind eases slightly. Temperatures reaching 6-7. That is

your forecast. Judith, thank you very much for that.

We're both back with an update just after the Ten O'Clock News.

Until then, you can keep up with the latest news,

sport and weather on BBC Scotland's website.

From everyone here, have a good evening.

Hello. It has been a wet Sunday for most of us and with more rain to

come there is