Red weather warning in place for third day as homes left without power by Storm Babet

Storm Babet is set to continue battering the UK with torrential downpours on Saturday – with another red “danger to life” warning in place for parts of eastern Scotland.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland have had warnings in place since Babet first hit on Wednesday, but eastern Scotland has suffered the worst of the storm which has left three people dead.

The council in Angus, where two of the victims died, said it was in uncharted territory dealing with “extreme and really challenging conditions” on Friday – with people rescued from 60 homes in and around Brechin.

The village of Edzell was completely cut off with no emergency access except via helicopter, the council said.

A rare red weather warning is in place for parts of eastern Scotland for a third day on Saturday, with the country’s First Minister Humza Yousaf to warn: “We have not seen the last of this.”

An amber warning for rain, meaning “extensive flooding to homes and businesses is possible”, is in place for parts of northeast Scotland covering Aberdeen and Cromarty.

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Meanwhile, there is a yellow weather warning for wind, meaning there is a small chance of fast-flowing or deep floodwater, in place in the northeast of England.

Across England, there were over 365 flood warnings and 248 alerts on Saturday morning, while 55,000 people were left without power on Friday as a result of the storm.

Around 45,000 of those were reconnected to the grid as of the evening, the Energy Networks Association said.

The Met Office said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the highest rainfall total on Friday was 84mm in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

Met forecaster Jonathan Vautrey said: “The focus of the rainfall from Saturday shifts back northwards over towards eastern and northern Scotland.

“Some parts of those areas have seen about a month and a half’s worth of rain already, but there’s another band that’s forecast to track its way northwards over the course of the night and push its way towards relatively similar areas.

“So there are further red and amber rain warnings in force for Saturday, with the potential to push those areas close towards two months of rain in the span of three days.”

Mr Vautrey said a yellow wind warning across eastern Scotland and north-east England could bring “gales in excess of 60 to 70 miles per hour”, but added: “That is going to work its way off (the coast) throughout Saturday, so from a wind aspect there will be some improvement.”

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Babet leaves three people dead

A man in his 60s died after getting caught in fast-flowing flood water in the town of Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire on Friday.

Police Scotland previously said a falling tree hit a van near Forfar in Angus on Thursday evening, killing the 56-year-old driver.

A 57-year-old woman also died on Thursday after being swept into a river in Angus.

Meanwhile, a major search was under way following reports of a man trapped in a vehicle in floodwater in Aberdeenshire.

Police Scotland said the alarm was raised at 3am on Friday near the village of Marykirk.

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It comes as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) warned a second major river could breach in the country on Saturday.

Aberdeenshire Council has said the latest SEPA modelling indicates a considerable risk of flooding on the River Don at Inverurie, Kemnay and Kintore between 10am and 2pm.

Hundreds of homes in Scotland have already been flooded after the River South Esk breached its banks.

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Rural communities cut off

Leeds Bradford Airport has said it is planning to reopen at 10am today. The airport closed on Friday after high winds forced a passenger plane to skid off a runway.

Flooding caused 70-minute delays on the A1 near Grantham on Friday, National Highways said, while further south, Suffolk declared a major incident as Storm Babet caused “major flooding” across the county.

The rural village of Debenham was cut off by flooding, residents said, while tractors were being used to rescue people caught in the flood water.

Around 50 people were sheltering in the local leisure centre there and sleeping on crash mats, staff said.

Elsewhere fire services in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire shared pictures on X of vehicles semi-submerged in water after drivers were rescued.

Clive Stanbrook, area manager at Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, told BBC Breakfast on Saturday more than 100 people had been rescued on Friday, including 20 people from a care home in Duffield.

The “unprecedented” weather event has already forced some residents in eastern Scotland to evacuate their homes, cut off rural communities, and caused roads and bridges to collapse.

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