SEPA issued a flood warning for the River Tay from Almondbank to Friarton Bridge, including North Muirton, Perth city centre and the harbour areas.

The spokeswoman added, “Following further rainfall yesterday and this morning, as well as snowmelt, river levels in the region are rising and are likely to exceed those experienced on Friday.”

Perth’s flood defences remain activated, meaning the South Inch was again under water today as it acts as a flood plain for backed-up water.

Several minor roads were closed including the B8062 Auchterarder to Crieff and B954 Meigle to Alyth.

However, traffic chaos in central Scotland was avoided when Tayside Police and BEAR Scotland re-opened the A9 south of Perth at 5 am.

It had been closed at Blackford last night due to a massive flooding and it had been feared thousands of commuters would have to seek alternative routes with no suitable local diversions identified.

Tayside Fire Service dealt with several isolated flooding incidents last night in Kinross, Milnathort and Dunkeld.

Two households had to be evacuated from Burnmouth Road, close to the Tay, in Birnam.

The seven flood warnings in place in Tayside are — the River Tay, from Kenmore to the A9 road bridge upstream of Dunkeld; the River Tay, from Dunkeld to Perth; Kenmore and Loch Tay; the River Earn, from Comrie to Crieff; the River Earn, from downstream of Crieff to Bridge of Earn; the River Tummel, downstream of the Pitlochry Dam to Ballinluig; the River Isla, from Bridge of Ruthven to the River Tay.

Anyone concerned should call Floodline on 0845 988 1188 or log on to www.sepa.org.uk/flooding where live updates are published continuously.

Meanwhile, gale-force winds of more than 90 mph forced the closure of the Tay Road Bridge this morning for the third time in a week, write Graeme Strachan and Rob McLaren.

A spokesman for the MET office said the windy weather in Dundee was likely to continue until Wednesday.

“We’ve never had a week like this,” said a spokesman for bridge control today.

The bridge was closed from 5.05am and it was an hour later before any cars were allowed to cross, with high-sided vehicles prevented from crossing.

Complete closures are extremely rare. Three closures in a week are unique.

“The bridge was closed completely from 5.05 am for safety reasons,” said the spokesman.

“We recorded gusts of more than 90 mph. I’ve been here 18 years and have seen it windy, but not constantly the same.

“We’ve never had a week like this.

“There have been restrictions in place all week.

“It’s settling down now and the forecast suggests it will drop off during the course of the day, but whether it does or not remains to be seen.”

The Scottish Crop Research Institute in Invergowrie recorded gale force winds — over 34 knots — in the early hours of this morning.

The high winds have resulted in dozens of calls to Dundee roofing firms.

Jim Wilson, from Slating and Plumbing Services, based in Shepherds Loan, said, “There have been a lot of phone calls already and I'd expect this to increase as businesses go back to work and discover problems.

“Getting the work done when there are high winds is a problem — there is a limited amount we can do for safety reasons.

“We would advise people who have a problem to phone a roofing service as soon as possible so that the problem is not exacerbated. Many firms now offer a 7-day service, which helps to get the problem sorted quickly.”

At Dundee Airport, a spokeswoman said the gusts were not having any affect on services.