FOLLOWING an amber weather warning for "heavy rain" across the Borders on Wednesday, people woke yesterday to reports of flooding and closed roads.

Weather warnings of heavy rain are in force across southern Scotland and northern England, including an amber alert for Cumbria which warns of “danger to life from fast flowing or deep floodwater”.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has issued 20 flood warnings and five flood alerts mainly covering southern Scotland.

A major incident was declared in Hawick yesterday amid fears that up to 500 properties could be flooded. The incident was stood down in the evening when Sepa indicated that the River Teviot reached a peak of 2.9m at 7.30pm and is now expected to steadily recede.

Network Rail Scotland warned that the bridges across the River Annan had been “washed away”, meaning the railway line connecting Dumfries with Carlisle would have to be closed until further notice.

READ MORE: Rail line between England and Scotland shut as bridges 'washed away' in flooding

Despite already facing persistent rain over the past few days – 132mm of rain was recorded at Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway between Wednesday at 1am and Thursday at 6pm, according to the Met Office – southern Scotland faces further warnings today.

A minor landslide has blocked the B725 road around six miles from Dumfries and as police warned of large areas of flooding on that road from Dumfries to Glencaple.

Further heavy rain is expected which could lead to more disruption and flooding.

According to meteorologist and STV weather presenter Sean Batty, the extreme weather is an example of climate change.

"We talk about more extremes occurring through climate change & today is an example of that in action," he tweeted earlier. "Since Wednesday morning there's been 364mm of rain at Honister Pass in Cumbria. That's more rain than we'd expect in Glasgow for the WHOLE of winter."

Click through the gallery above to view some reader photos showing flooding around the region.