Three yellow weather warnings issued as 150mm of heavy rain driven by Hurricane Ernesto to batter Scotland

Ernesto ripped through the North Atlantic this week, with maximum winds of 85mph leaving hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico and Bermuda without power.

Rain is expected in the UK from Monday, with Ernesto – now weakened to a tropical storm – set to hit on Wednesday, with further downpours and strong winds that will mainly affect Scotland, the Met Office has said.

Up to 150mm of rain is expected to fall within a 24-hour period in the worst-affected areas.

The yellow weather warnings cover south-west Scotland and the Lothian borders region on Monday afternoon and evening, and north-east Scotland – including the Highlands, Strathclyde and Central, Tayside and Fife – for most of Wednesday and Thursday.

The rain will be accompanied by strong south-westerly winds, with gusts reaching 50-60mph possible on the coast and around the islands.

The Met Office said there could be delays to public transport, spray and flooding on roads, as well as potential power cuts and flooding in homes and businesses.

There is also a small chance the spring tide will generate large waves that could result in injuries and a danger to life in coastal areas on Wednesday and Thursday, the weather service added.

Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said: “Ernesto, at the moment, is still out on the other side of the Atlantic as a tropical storm.

“As we go through the next couple of days, it kind of weakens as it moves into cooler waters and gets absorbed into a more typical area of low pressure, which we kind of get quite often.”

Mr Snell added: “Because the tropical systems just have so much warmth and a lot of moisture in them, remnants of the warmth and remnants of the moisture will be still there in that weather system on Wednesday and Thursday, so it will enhance the rainfall. “

Ernesto is the fifth named storm and the third hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Wet and windy weather is not “unusual” for August, Mr Snell added.

Elsewhere in the UK, the forecast looks “quite unsettled” and it will be a cooler week for many after a high of 34.8C in Cambridge was recorded on August 12, he said.

The south and south-east of England are expected to enjoy the best of the drier weather next week with some warmer spells and highs of around 26C in East Anglia, Mr Snell said.

He said it was a “little too early” to predict the outlook for the coming bank holiday weekend.