Second red warning in place as Storm Babet causes widespread flooding and deaths
Storm Babet shows no signs of abating as downpours continue to batter the UK on Saturday, with three people dead and another red “danger to life” warning in place.
The rare red weather warning has been issued for parts of eastern Scotland all day, prompting First Minister Humza Yousaf to warn: “We have not seen the last of this.”
Meanwhile, there are yellow weather warnings for wind and rain in place across much of England.
An amber warning for rain is in place across parts of north-east England including Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and Nottingham.
Across England, there were over 353 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 the highest rainfall total on Friday was 84mm in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
Met forecaster Jonathan Vautrey told the PA news agency: “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 60-70 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.”
A man in his 60s died after getting caught in fast-flowing flood water in the town of Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire, while heavy winds forced a passenger plane to skid off a runway in Leeds Bradford Airport.
The death was the third since Storm Babet first hit the UK on Wednesday.
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 the region.
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.