HUNDREDS of households and businesses hit by Storm Babet are set to be handed additional Scottish Government funding to help with recovery.
Councils will be allocated cash so they can issue flat rate grants of £1500 to people whose properties were most affected by flooding and £3000 to businesses where there is evidence that ability to trade was severely impacted.
The storm - which claimed several lives - wreaked havoc in the north east of Scotland last month with towns such as Brechin hit particularly hard as the River South Esk burst its banks.
Hundreds of homes had to be evacuated with First Minister Humza Yousaf insisting families would endure a "long road to recovery".
The funding was agreed at the first formal meeting of the Storm Babet Ministerial Taskforce held on Thursday.
Grants will be administered by local authorities and further information on when and how to access will be made available in due course, the Government said.
Mairi McAllan (below), Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, said: "We have been clear that Scotland’s response to and recovery from Storm Babet would be collaborative endeavour.
"That’s why we have been working with local authorities and those directly affected by the severe impact of Storm Babet to determine where the Scottish Government can provide additional support to local partners.
“Given the unprecedented scale of damage and impact caused by Storm Babet we have concluded that additional funding is required to support households and businesses.
“This is in addition to our long-standing annual funding of £42 million and the additional £150m for flood risk management and £12m for coastal change adaptation over the course of this parliament, and sits alongside the Bellwin Scheme, Scottish Welfare Fund, and additional funds to farming businesses and organisations."
The Bellwin scheme is a discretionary fund which is designed to help councils that face extra costs as a result of large-scale emergencies.
Seven local authorities - Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perth & Kinross, Fife, South Lanarkshire, Highland and Moray - have notified the Scottish Government of a potential claim under the Bellwin scheme.
Leader of Angus Council Beth Whiteside added: “We welcome these discussions with ministers and have the reassurance that they are fully aware of the scale of impact across Angus.
"Recovery will be a lengthy process as we support people and communities to rebuild their lives and businesses from the unprecedented flooding and we will need ongoing support for years to come to rebuild our infrastructure and take action to protect Angus from such devastating flooding in the future.”
