Three dead and 40,000 homes without power as Storm Babet hits Britain

Met Office issues rare second red warning for eastern Scotland for severe flooding and disruption

Severin Carrell - Scotland editor
Fri 20 Oct 2023 12.57 EDT

Eastern Scotland is braced for further heavy flooding and storm damage after the Met Office issued a second “danger to life” red weather warning, as the death toll from Storm Babet rose to three.

The emergency services rescued about 60 people from Brechin in Angus, but were unable to reach others stranded in their homes after the South Esk River surged to record heights, overwhelming flood defences erected seven years ago.

Police on Friday confirmed that three people have died in the storm. A man was swept away by a swollen brook in Shropshire on Friday and on Thursday, a van driver, 56, was killed by a fallen tree in Forfar. In a separate incident, a 57-year-old woman was swept to her death in the Water of Lee in Glen Esk.

The weather agency said the very rare red warning for severe flooding and disruption would cover parts of Angus and southern Aberdeenshire for the whole of Saturday, only hours after the first red warning for the region had lapsed at noon on Friday. It said another 100mm of rain could fall there on Saturday.

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