Flooding caused chaos around Swindon.

Hours of heavy rain made its mark around the town on Friday as roads closed, rivers burst their banks, and train lines were submerged.

The Met Office issued a red weather warning for part of Scotland on Thursday ahead of the arrival of Storm Babet - and another one is in force on Saturday.

While south-west England missed the worst of the storm, constant overnight rain created significant problems for motorists, rail passengers, and school pupils.

National Rail confirmed on Friday morning that all lines in and out of Swindon were blocked because of the bad weather.

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Train services between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads were cancelled, delayed or diverted.

Police and highway maintenance teams closed a section of Queens Drive between the Drakes Way roundabout and Somerville Road due to the downpour.

A smaller section of the opposite side of the road was also coned off, so drivers had to use the bus lane to pass by.

Several bus services that use the road were all diverted on Friday morning with the road inaccessible.

The main road had fully reopened by 2.30pm. Elsewhere, the B4005 was entirely underwater and not safe for any vehicle to use.

The River Ray, River Cole, and Dorcan brook flowed at full speed and quickly filled up with rainwater, prompting flood alerts to be issued by the government.

As a precaution, Dorcan Academy closed after dealing with some flooding in its car park.

A spokesperson for the school said: “Due to the level of flooding already in the car park area and the flood alert level for Dorcan Brook, regretfully we have made the decision to close the school today.

"Any students that do arrive will register and be allowed to stay until we know they have permission from parents/carers to go home."

Nearby, Blackmore Close and Peregrine Close were two of the worst affected residential streets in Covingham, and the local park was drenched.

The River Ray overflowed entirely onto a section of Purton Road which connects to Mead Way in West Swindon, making an underpass impassible and turning the tarmac above it treacherous as vehicles struggled to traverse through the flooding.

Traffic heading into West Swindon along this route was at an almost-complete standstill for much of the day because motorists heading in the opposite direction often crossed into the oncoming queue of cars and lorries to avoid the deepest part of the deluge, which required that queue to come to a halt while the manoeuvring was being carried out.

Some drivers and cyclists immediately U-turned and drove back the way they came after seeing the full extent of the congestion and flooding ahead of them.

Martin Hawes visited Lydiard Park and found it to be extremely flooded.

He said: "I have to say that I've never seen such torrential flows of water in Lydiard.

"Also some trees were uprooted blocking the path round the back of the lake.

"It resembled a mangrove swamp."

Near Royal Wootton Bassett, The Salley Pussey's Inn had to close for the morning after heavy rain overnight caused water to flood into the building, submerging the ground floor, car park, and busy road outside.

One anonymous employee told the Adver: ""It was about three feet deep when I turned up, right up to our top step and it completely covered the inside ground floor and toilets.

"The whole of the road outside was completely flooded this morning and there were fire engines everywhere. No one could get through."

The pub partly raced to reopen enough space to host a pre-booked wake in the afternoon.

Fire service workers cleared approximately 100 vehicles from the A3102 Breach Lane in Royal Wootton Bassett.