Matthew Hooper told BBC Scotland that he had woken up to discover “two to three feet” of water in his bedroom.

He had to be guided out of his home by emergency services, and fears some of his possessions in his Cupar home will have been wrecked.

He said: “I’m thinking most things in my lounge will be gone, which is obviously not what you want to wake up to after Christmas.

“It was shocking, because when I went to bed last night there was no sign of any rain.”

About 18,500 people are believed to be without power in the north of Scotland.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Distribution said supplies had been restored to almost 8,500 properties on Wednesday afternoon.

The power company said the weather conditions had been more severe than originally forecast, leading to damage from fallen trees, branches and other debris.

A series of Met Office yellow weather warnings for wind, rain and snow are in place across the UK until Thursday morning.

The disruption led to the postponement of Scottish Premiership fixtures between Rangers and Ross County as well as Aberdeen and Motherwell.

Bear Scotland said teams were working across the country to remove fallen trees and debris from a number of routes.

The roads maintenance operator cautioned that people should “consider if they really need to travel today”.

Six gritters were dispatched to A9 at Drumochter where drivers were trapped in heavy snow.

Highland Council said conditions were “very severe” and partner agencies were providing assistance to those trapped, prioritising the most vulnerable.

Police Scotland urged drivers to slow down and “drive to the weather conditions”.

Richard Nasmyth was travelling home to Bristol with his wife and daughter when the weather worsened, leaving them trapped on the A9 for more than six hours.

He said: “When we set off from Loch Laggan, it was just raining and the snow was actually melting away, it was looking all right.

“The skies opened and within minutes it was a complete whiteout, the traffic had come to an absolute halt and we were going nowhere.”

Claire Shaw and her children were heading back to Edinburgh from Nairn but had to find a hotel due to the conditions.

She said: “You could see the lorries in front of us physically shaking. The winds were really bad, the rain was horrendous.”

Transport Scotland said the trapped vehicles had started to move.

The A9 at Scrabster in Caithness, external will remain closed overnight after a landslide.

A safety assessment is due to be carried out on Thursday morning at the site.

Fallen trees and floods led to road closures on the A82 near Fort William, at Invergarry and in West Dunbartonshire, and the A85 at Bridge of Awe.

The A90 was closed in both directions between Forfar and Dundee near Gateside. Earlier, traffic police attended a crash on a different stretch of the road, near the village of Inchture.

The A96 was closed at Inverurie and at Huntly due to flooding.

The Forth Road Bridge and the A9 at Dornoch Bridge were closed to high-sided vehicles due to high winds.

British Transport Police said its officers and the fire brigade were called out after reports that a train had struck a tree near Broughty Ferry station at about 13:50.

The passengers on board were evacuated safely and there were no reports of any injuries.

ScotRail said there was “major disruption” on much of the network and it had lifted all ticket restrictions.

It said tickets would remain valid on Thursday and Friday for passengers who wished to postpone their journey.

Affected services included trains from Glasgow to Stranraer, Edinburgh Waverley and Gretna.

Trains from Inverness to Aberdeen, Perth and Wick were also impacted.

Network Rail said crews had removed a fallen tree on the line at Dumbarton, but the line remained blocked by flooding at Bowling.

There will be no service between Cupar and Leuchars for the rest of Wednesday due to a landslip on the line.

ScotRail customer operation director, Phil Campbell, said: “We will be working closely with our colleagues at Network Rail Scotland to ensure we are able to keep people moving as much as possible.

“But customers should also expect that their journeys will take longer than usual and there could be some cancellations. “

Caledonian Sleeper services, external to and from Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William were also cancelled.

CalMac said there would be disruption to a number of ferry services throughout the day.

All ferries from Mallaig to Armadale and the Small Isles have been cancelled due to “adverse conditions”.

The operator said the latest information on delays and disruption to other routes was available on the CalMac website, external.

NorthLink services across the Pentland Firth to Orkney were also cancelled.

Loganair said a number of flights from Scotland’s islands had been affected.

The 08:40 Shetland to Aberdeen service is understood to have landed at Glasgow after being diverted via Inverness.

The yellow weather warning covers almost all of Scotland and other parts of the UK.

Scotland has experienced heavy rain and blizzard conditions, with wind speeds reaching 88mph on Fair Isle in Shetland and 86mph at Inverbervie in Aberdeenshire.