People in Renfrew say they have been hit with "one disaster after another" after recent storms resulted in the closure of the bridge linking the town to Yoker and Clydebank.

Business owners told the BBC they fear the Renfrew Bridge closure - which is to last for months - will result in a big drop in trade, just days after shops and restaurants were flooded.

Other local residents said it will now take them much longer to visit sick family members in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Renfrewshire Council said earlier this week that the electrical systems that operate the bridge, which opened in May last year, had suffered serious water damage during the storms.

The bridge closed to road traffic from Wednesday night onwards.

The local authority was also criticised for not raising flood barriers last weekend. Businesses in the area were then flooded after the water levels from the River Clyde proved much higher than expected.

Among those affected was Tarun Wadhwa, who runs the Green Gates Indian Restaurant.

His business was already damaged by the storms, and now he fears the bridge being closed will see a big drop in trade.

"This is one disaster after another for me," he said.

"Most of my customers are coming from the other side of the river and you're going from a five-minute drive to get here to a 20-minute drive. I will lose customers."

He added Renfrewshire Council had not yet spoken to him about the damage from last weekend.

"We feel abandoned. It would be good if someone wanted to know if we were doing alright," he said.

Near to the Green Gates is the Foundry Gym, which has been closed all week because of the storm damage.

While it is scheduled to open again on Monday, owner Sukhjinder Singh has already had gym-goers get in touch to say they will now have to go elsewhere due to the bridge closure.

He said: "We did not have a lot of members leave until Thursday, with the bridge being closed. The gym is no use to them now as it will take too long for them to get over the bridge to come here.

"It's just another blow, on top of the cost of getting everything back to normal - everything here was brand new."

He added that that the council have not visited his premises since the storms.

"We were under the assumption that we wouldn't get flooded, even near the Clyde. How has all of this happened?"

The bridge opened last year with the aim of linking Renfrew with Yoker and Clydebank on the north bank.

The leader of Renfrewshire Council, Iain Nicolson, said at the time that the bridge, part of an overall £117m regeneration project, would "bring the communities together."

Locals told BBC Scotland News the bridge had done that, and been helpful for reaching the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

However they now face the prospect of longer journeys for some time, with Renfrewshire Council saying the bridge will be closed for "a number of months."

"With the bridge, that was 15 or 20 minutes to get there," he said.

"This will now double the time - it would be up to 40 minutes or so every day. The bridge opening had made a great difference.

"You would think there would be things in place to make sure there is a contingency plan for something like this happening."

Renfrewshire Council's head of climate, public protection and roads, Gerard Hannah, said the operating room on the Renfrew side of the bridge - which manages the opening and closing of the bridge - had suffered significant damage last weekend.

The local authority said it was legally obligated to keep the Clyde open to river traffic, meaning the swing bridge must remain in an open position.

The 184m (604ft) bridge opened in May last year.

It is the first road crossing on the river capable of opening to allow large ships to pass and as well as a two-lane crossing for drivers, it offers access to cyclists and pedestrians.

The west of Scotland was struck hard last weekend by Storm Boleo.

Although an amber weather warning was issued for last Saturday, Renfrewshire Council said its data suggested the predicted tide levels would not meet the threshold needed to use the flood barriers - part of £10m worth of flood defences installed in 2016.

Singh and other local businesses have since contacted the council to formally complain about how the local authority handled the situation.

The letter, seen by BBC Scotland, says "adequate precautionary action" was not taken ahead of Storm Boleo.

The tidal surge on Saturday night saw the Clyde's water levels reach 6.7m at Renfrew.

The council previously said it was "very sorry for the inconvenience" caused by the bridge closure.