The Met Office has updated its weather warning to AMBER from around 6am this Thursday until 6pm on Friday – with SEPA also updating their flood warning to AMBER.

There is real potential for heavy and prolonged rainfall – exacerbated by strong south-easterly winds – to affect large parts of Aberdeenshire including the threat of localised flooding through both coastal and river impacts – and communities must start to take precautionary action NOW.

The Met Office warning highlights that 70-100mm of rain will fall widely across the area, with some upland areas possibly seeing 150-200mm. That is an incredible amount of rain to fall within a 36 to 48hr period for this area.

Potential impacts include:

Extensive flooding to homes and businesses is likely, which could lead to collapse or damage to buildings or structures
There is a good chance that communities within flooded areas could be completely cut off, perhaps for several days
Fast flowing or deep floodwater is likely, causing a danger to life
Power and other essential services, such as gas, water and mobile phone service will probably be lost
Road closures are likely, along with bus and train service delays and cancellations
Dangerous driving conditions could occur because of spray and flooded roads

Sandbags

In preparation, we have teams creating significant supplies of sandbags at our Roads Depots should residents require them – locations at https://bit.ly/AbshireSandbags

But please note – local sandbag stocks may run out and cannot necessarily be replaced.

While Aberdeenshire Council has an obligation to maintain roads and undertake certain emergency responses in the event of flooding, this does not extend to private property – residents and businesses should take steps now to protect their own property from flooding.

If you live in a known flooding area, please ensure you sign-up now for alerts from SEPA call the Floodline on 0345 9881188 or visit http://floodline.sepa.org.uk/floodupdates/

Roads crews are currently undertaking gully-clearing in known flood-risk areas.

The severity of the winds is likely to have a significant impact on woodland, particularly in areas weakened by previous storms. While Roads and Landscape teams will respond to calls about fallen trees, if it is too dangerous – particularly under cover of darkness – we will close roads until it is safe to remove them.

Please remember, fallen, overhanging and hung-up trees represent a serious danger to safety and affected areas should be avoided at all times.

To report fallen trees on the roads network call 03456 081205 (during office hours).

Useful links

Flooding advice here https://floodlinescotland.org.uk/your-home/

Keep an eye on the forecast at https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2023-03-06

To get all the latest Council updates including impacted waste collection services, facility closures etc, download the myaberdeenshire app at https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/my/mobile-app/

Handy phone numbers:

Power outages – via SSEN on 105

Non-urgent medical issues – via NHS on 111

Emergency council housing repairs - 03456 08 12 03

Emergency social care 03456 08 12 06

Amber weather warning for Aberdeenshire