Strong winds and persistent rain along the west coast of Scotland have continued to cause disruption on roads, rail and at sea.

Two men had to be airlifted from the Firth of Clyde after their small boat sunk near Dunoon this morning.

The pair, believed to be foreign fishermen, were spotted clinging to rocks and the bad weather prevented a lifeboat from Helensburgh being able to reach them.

A nearby passenger ferry circled the area and kept the men in sight until the Royal Navy rescue helicopter from Prestwick was able to get on the scene and airlift them to safety.

A spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said both men were checked over by paramedics but did not require hospital treatment.

She said: "The two casualties were airlifted and transferred to a nearby landing site. The Coastguard rescue team from Dunoon and the Coastguard sector manager from Clyde were on scene waiting for the helicopter.

"On safe arrival, the two were then transferred into the care of an ambulance crew.

"They were lucky that they were able to find a relatively safe spot while waiting for the helicopter and lucky that they were spotted on CCTV and the police contacted the coastguard."

Elsewhere the weather has continued to cause disruption to travel.

The Met Office has issued amber "be prepared" warnings for the Highlands and Islands where heavy persistent rain is expected until tomorrow, while yellow "be aware" warnings are in place for Strathclyde, Central, Tayside and Fife, where rain and gales are forecast.

The A82 trunk road remains closed near Fort William following landslides yesterday.

Fifteen cars were trapped between two landslips for five hours while engineers from Bear Scotland and the Forestry Commission cleared the blockage. No-one was injured in the incident, around five miles south of Fort William.

Transport Scotland is monitoring the situation with Sepa, local authorities and Police Scotland.

Transport Minister Keith Brown chaired a Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) meeting yesterday to discuss the situation.

He said: "Last week the Scottish Government launched its Ready For Winter campaign to raise awareness around the challenges winter can bring for communities across the country and highlight some of the preparations people can make to help mitigate the effects.

"This weekend's amber alert from the Met Office - the first of this winter - is another timely reminder that we are now moving into winter proper, and all of the sudden changes poor weather can bring.

"That is why the Scottish Government and its partners stand ready to respond to events as they arise."

He added: "We and our partners are working hard to make sure that Scotland is prepared for any disruption, and we will continue to monitor events through our national control centre and Scottish Government Resilience Room as required."

He advised people setting out to be prepared and plan their journeys carefully.

There were delays on trains this morning with routes between Dundee and Aberdeen disrupted as the poor weather spread across the country.

Police Scotland also warned motorists using the Tay Road Bridge to expect delays today after unexpectedly high winds prevented planned maintenance work from being completed over the weekend.