Storm Babet: Rare red weather alert in place over flooding and strong winds
A red Met Office warning says from 6pm there is ‘danger to life from fast-flowing or deep floodwater’ in Aberdeenshire and Angus in eastern Scotland.
A rare red weather warning of a “risk to life” has been issued as the UK braces for floods and strong winds.
Storm Babet, which has hit Ireland after sweeping in from the Atlantic, will bring 70mph gusts and over one month’s worth of rain in the worst-affected regions of the UK on Thursday.
A red Met Office warning says from 6pm there is “danger to life from fast-flowing or deep floodwater” in Aberdeenshire and Angus in eastern Scotland, with extensive road closures expected.
It is the first red warning for rain issued in the UK since Storm Dennis in February 2020.
An amber wind warning has also been issued for parts of eastern Scotland.
“We’re likely to see flooding, power disruption, travel disruption, there is a risk to life as well.
“There’s also an amber wind warning out for eastern parts of Scotland, where we could see gusts of 60 to 70 miles an hour, just adding to the extremely dangerous weather coming for parts of Scotland.”
Yellow severe weather warnings have been issued until Saturday, covering already-saturated parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern and eastern England.
Storm Babet, a complex area of low pressure which developed to the west of the Iberian peninsula, was named by the Met Office on Monday morning.
