A major clean up is under way across Scotland after Storm Ali battered the country.

Services across the central belt were cancelled on Thursday morning due to the bad weather while trains also suffered damage.

ScotRail said travellers with unused tickets from Wednesday would be able to use them on Thursday.

It comes after Storm Ali caused destruction across Scotland on Wednesday, with gusts of more than 90mph recorded.

Around 5000 homes were without power on Thursday morning in areas including the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.

Scottish Power said it had 500 staff working to restore electricity, but warned they were being hampered by blocked roads.

A spokesman said: "Over the day yesterday, Storm Ali caused widespread damage to the electricity network across central and southern Scotland.

"Wind gusts in the region of 80mph brought down trees and blew debris on to power lines, damaging poles and overhead equipment.

"In total since yesterday morning, around 65,000 customers impacted by the high winds have experienced some kind of power outage.

"Over 60,000 properties have now been reconnected, with around 5000 homes currently without power. The majority of customers impacted are in the Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders regions."

Two schools in Dumfries were closed due to the weather while pupils in the area were banned from walking home on Wednesday over safety fears due to the storm.

A Dumfries and Galloway Virtual Operations Support Team spokesman said: "Storm Ali brought turmoil to the region and placed massive demand on those responsible for delivering services across Dumfries and Galloway.

"The massive demand right across the region, saw resources stretched and a major incident declared.

"We have now returned to a level of normality and will deal with incidents within normal operational arrangements."

The Tay Road Bridge, where a wind gust of 102.2mph was recorded on Wednesday, was closed to double deckers on Thursday morning but all other bridges and main roads were open.

A hospitality tent at the Old Course in St Andrews blew away as winds battered the golf course.

Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said: "In the course of yesterday it was clear that the rail network in particular bore the brunt of the impact of the storm, which resulted in widespread disruption.

"A considerable amount of work has gone on over the course of the night to try and get the rail network back up to speed.

"Network Rail staff have been out trying to repair the damage that has been caused to overhead power lines, to clear the debris - from trees through to trampolines - off the lines, to get the trains back running again.

"And by and large, most of the services are back operating at a normal level, but it will take the rest of the day to get it back up to 100% again."