Storm Babet Recap: Three dead across UK | Plane skids off Leeds Bradford runway | Red warnings in force
As England, Wales and Northern Ireland faced warnings about heavy rain, Scotland continued to bear the brunt with flood defences in the town of Brechin being breached early on Friday.
Marykirk and Edzell are also badly effect with power out across the region. Flooding has also hit Dundee and dramatic images show the extent of the storm at Stonehaven.
Storm Babet in Scotland Latest
Key Events
What can Scotland expect from Storm Babet on Saturday?
Storm Babet is set to continue into Saturday with widespread impact on transport and infrastructure expected, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has said.
Sepa has issued 12 regional flood alerts, 16 localised flood warnings and five severe flood warnings across Scotland.
The agency said there remains a danger to life, with a large part of central and north-east Scotland expecting more severe weather throughout Friday and into Saturday.
South Aberdeenshire, Dundee and Angus and the eastern parts of Tayside have had high rainfall.
Sepa said the “highest concern” areas are the North Esk and South Esk river.
A severe flood warning in the North Esk region is around Marykirk, with another flood warning for Logie Mill and Craigo.
The three severe warnings in the South Esk region are in Brechin, Kinnard/Bridge of Dun, and Finavon and Tannadice.
Sepa also warned there is an increasing risk across the eastern borders of Scotland and in East Lothian.
Why is it called Storm Babet and who named it?
The tradition of naming storms is nothing new in the United States, where it's been done since 1953, but it's only lately caught on in the UK - explains our writer-at-large David Hepburn.
It wasn’t until 2014 that the Met Office opted to start issuing male and female names to confirmed storms in a bid to help raise awareness and inform the public of the risks of upcoming bad weather.
Each year, they team up with Ireland's Met Éireann and Holland's KNMI weather service to select each years’ list of names from suggestions submitted by the public.
They are assigned in alphabetical order, but there are no names starting with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z - meaning there are a total of 21 names picked each year.
Here are all the names for this year. Let's hope we don't make it all the way to Walid.
Footage from south approach to Brechin
GB News reporter Tony McGuire, formerly of The Scotsman, has posted new footage from Brechin which shows no sign of Storm Babet flooding letting up.
Flooding in Dundee
Flooding from Storm Babet has led to properties being damaged in Dundee, with roads closed around the city.
The council has opened a rest centre for those affected by the severe weather.
Dundee City Council“Storm Babet is bringing incredibly challenging conditions, particularly in the north and west of the city. This includes roads disruption, flood damage to properties and fallen trees."
They continued: “Flood gates at Broughty Ferry and Riverside have been closed due to the heavy rain and high winds.
“Sepa has issued a flood alert for Dundee and Angus.
“Residents in flood-prone areas are recommended to stock up on their own flood prevention including sandbags or door flood stops from DIY stores and builders’ merchants.”
What is seafoam and what causes it?
A lot of our readers have been asking this question after seeing the scenes from Stonehaven.
It's actually caused, if you can believe it, not specifically by weather but by algae. When algae decays offshore in the water, a lot of that decaying matter ends up washing ashore.
Is it dangerous to humans and dogs?
In short - it usually is not harmful. The US National Ocean Service, in this very informative blog, explains that "Most sea foam is not harmful to humans and is often an indication of a productive ocean ecosystem"
However, some algae can be dangerous, particularly to pets, so it is not advised to allow your canine friends near seafoam if you can avoid it.
What's the history of floods in Brechin, and what were the measures to prevent them?
Storm Babet has caused chaos across Scotland with hundreds of homes evacuated in Angus.
On Thursday a woman’s body was recovered from a river in Angus, after the 57-year-old was swept into the Water of Lee at Glen Esk, while a 56-year-old driver was killed on Friday morning after a tree struck a van.
It has also seen the entire town of Brechin in Angus evacuated over flooding fears – the first major flood to hit the location for 20 years.
Thousands without power
More than 27,000 homes in Scotland lost power due to Storm Babet, according to Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN).
The energy provider said as of 11.30am on Friday it had restored services to almost 24,000 homes and is working to reconnect 4,000 other properties which have been cut off.
Aberdeenshire, Angus and Perthshire are the main areas affected by power cuts.
Andy Smith, SSEN distribution operations director said: “Storm Babet’s severe effects continue to be felt, but our teams are making good progress. Through our automatic switching systems and the work of our teams on the ground, we have reconnected the majority of our customers who lost their supplies, and that effort continues today.
“We have 10 times our usual operational capacity to respond to issues as they occur.
“Our teams are facing hugely challenging circumstances on the ground, and I’d like to thank customers for their patience. I want to reassure them we’re doing everything we can to restore power as quickly as possible, and to limit the number of prolonged outages.
“We encourage anyone who may need additional support to contact our dedicated teams on the 24-hour power cut helpline on 105.”
Scotsman Editor Neil McIntosh: 'Safety is paramount'
Storm Babet has caused devastation in the east of Scotland and disrupted services right across the country. The Scotsman has not been unaffected, as our editor, Neil McIntosh, explains.
Humza Yousaf on 'intesifying' disruption
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf warned the further red warning issued by the Met Office would “intensify” the disruption caused by torrential rain from Storm Babet.
Mr Yousaf posted on X, formerly Twitter, regarding the “further red weather warning issued by @metoffice for Saturday”.
He told people this would “intensify the disruption already being experienced”.
Mr Yousaf said the Scottish Government would continue to liaise with local organisations and the emergency services.
“People’s safety is our number one priority,” he stressed.
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