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.
There may be power outages and some areas could be cut off for days, with people urged to check for flood updates, avoid travel and expect school closures.
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.
Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst said: “We’re going to see prolonged heavy rain, where we could see 200 to 250 millimetres of rain falling within a day which is well over a month’s worth of rainfall for eastern parts of 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.”
Large swathes of the rest of the country will also see strong winds and heavy rain on Thursday.
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.
