A disaster response director urged Scottish ministers yesterday to put subsidised sandbags at the top of this month's budget as floods continue to ravage Britain.

Scottish Flood Forum director Paul Hendy praised the Scottish Enviromental Protection Agency's officials for doing a "magnificent job" in recent days as a tidal surge swamped much of the west coast.

But Mr Hendy said homeowners had largely been left to fend for themselves.

Under current law local authorities have the power to launch their own schemes, such as discounted or free flood protection products.

Such schemes already worked "extremely well" in the Borders, Aberdeenshire and Dumfries & Galloway regions.

But he added that authorities had no duty or ring-fenced funding to run the schemes.

The cost of properly securing a house with sandbags, skirts and barriers typically ranged between £2000 and £2500 - well beyond what most homeowners could afford by themselves.

Yet the clean-up of flooded homes inevitably cost far more, he said.

And he urged councils to take responsibility for protecting residents' homes, arguing that "local authorities should provide subsidised flood protection schemes."

A spokesman for the councils' umbrella group Cosla said they had told Scottish government officials last June of the need to plan for extreme weather and address "how we manage to fund the extra maintenance that is required."

The body was still awaiting the Scottish government's response, he added.

Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse's office did not respond to the Morning Star's requests for comment.

Rail Maritime and Transport union general secretary Bob Crow said yesterday his members were braving "appalling" conditions to keep rail services running, despite a swathe of layoffs and four major shutdowns in recent months.

"We cannot have a situation where they are praised as heroes today and threatened with the sack tomorrow," he said.