The Met Office warned of heavy rain and potential flooding for London as Storm Babet barrelled into the country on Thursday bringing a “danger to life”.
A rare red warning was in place for parts of Scotland as it was forecast the storm will bring 70mph gusts and over one month’s worth of rain to the worst-affected regions of the UK.
Schools were shut in areas of eastern Scotland and there were mass train cancellations as the Met Office said there was “danger to life from fast flowing or deep floodwater”.
A Yellow rain warning is in place for London from 6am to 8pm tomorrow with the Met Office warning of a small chance of flooding of homes and businesses, difficult driving conditions and disruption to public transport.
The Met Office said: "There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded, causing damage to some buildings. Spray and flooding is likely to lead to difficult driving conditions and there is a small chance of some road closure.
"Where flooding occurs, there is a slight chance of delays to or cancellations of public transport services."
A red Met Office warning says from 6pm on Thursday 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.
Angus Council said schools will close at lunchtime on Thursday and remain shut on Friday to “ensure the safety of children, young people, parents, and school staff”.
Mass train cancellations have been imposed by ScotRail, expected to last from Thursday until Saturday.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has three flood warnings in place as of 6am, along with 14 flood alerts.
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.”
Storm Babet hit Ireland on Wednesday after sweeping in from the Atlantic, bringing with it heavy rainfall and causing extensive flooding in parts of the country.
Members of the Irish Defence Forces were deployed in the town of Midleton, Co Cork in the south of Ireland, where more than 100 properties were flooded.
Cork County Council said more than a month’s worth of rain had fallen in the space of 24 hours, leading to unprecedented flooding, saturated land and high river levels across the county.
Large swathes of already-saturated Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern and eastern England will also see strong winds and heavy rain on Thursday, with yellow severe weather warnings issued through to Saturday.
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.
