Weather Scotland: Flood warning extended until Halloween as Dundee, Aberdeenshire and Angus brace for more rain

Scots already recovering from the impact of Storm Babet are facing the threat of more flooding right up to Hallowe’en.

The north east was already under a 72-hour warning for heavy rain until Sunday afternoon. But yesterday, the Met Office introduced a fresh 42-hour alert for the area that lasts until the start of Guising Day on Tuesday.

Fast-flowing flood water could create a ‘danger to life’ and homes and businesses could be inundated by torrential downpours. The situation will be made worse by winds gusting 50-60mph.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency issued five flood alerts and seven – more serious – flood warnings for Dundee, Angus, Tayside, Aberdeenshire, Central and Fife.

Members of the coastguard rescue team wade through the flood waters to evacuate a man and a dog in Brechin. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Anticipating flooding on the tracks, Scotrail yesterday took the precaution of cancelling services in the affected area and introducing speed restrictions on many services.

In Angus, where the worst of the flooding took place last weekend during Storm Babet, the local council begged people not to try and cross bridges which had been closed for safety reasons.

A second weekend of heavy rain is being caused by the same reasons as last weekend, with low pressure systems bumping into high pressure over Scandinavia and stalling over Scotland.

As public officials prepare to tackle more weather issues, a spokesman for Angus Council said:” While we are striving to maintain normal services, these will inevitably have to be delayed as we prioritise the immediate needs of those who have been traumatised, made homeless and have lost everything. They are our absolute priority.

“In the last ten years, we have had to reduce our budgets by £78 million and need to find a further £60m in the next three. As our main cost is staffing, this means that there are significantly fewer people in most council services than there were. Additionally, the majority of staff also live in Angus, so they too have been affected by Storm Babet personally.

“We are not asking for sympathy, we do ask for patience and understanding.”

As a result of the grim forecast, rail travellers between the Central Belt and Aberdeen and Inverness will need to change at Perth – for travel to Inverness – and Dundee (for Aberdeen) as direct ScotRail services stopped from yesterday morning until tomorrow.

The train operator will operate more localised shuttle services to help keep customers moving. This will see services operating between Aberdeen and Dundee, and between Inverness and Perth.

David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “Our first priority is always to ensure the safety of our staff and customers. As a precautionary measure, speed restrictions will be in place across the Highlands and northeast, which will result in extended journey times and the removal of some direct services.

“We ask customers to keep an eye on our website, app, or social media feeds for live updates.”

CrossCountry southbound services will run on a reduced service.

Meanwhile, repairs at Morpeth were also disrupting services between Scotland and England.