The weather caused by Storm Babet wreaked havoc across the UK, with the heavy rainfall causing travel chaos and even leading to the deaths of seven people. Unfortunately, the bad conditions are set to continue as the Met office has issued yet another weather warning.
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This heavy rain warning will cover areas of Scotland already affected by Storm Babet, and has been extended by 24 hours - meaning it will cover much of the weekend. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
The areas that will be affected
The Met Office already issued two yellow warnings for Friday - one for heavy rain in Scotland and the other for fog disruption in eastern England. Now, a warning has been issued for the following areas in Scotland: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross.
These areas are already saturated with rainwater from Storm Babet, with Brechin in Angus having seen hundreds of its residents evacuated after the South Esk river breached its banks.
Though the warning was originally set to run from 12pm on Thursday to 12pm on Saturday, it has been extended. It will now remain in place until midnight on Sunday.
What the Met Office has said
The Met Office said on Wednesday:
An area of low pressure becomes firmly in charge over the next few days to bring plenty of showers and further rainfall, especially to parts of eastern Scotland.
The damage is not expected to match the chaos of Storm Babet, but the latest Scottish Flood Forecast update has warned:
There is a possibility of some localised impacts from rivers and surface water on Thursday and Friday in the north east, Caithness and Sunderland, and Easter Ross and Great Glen due to further heavy rain.
Thankfully, ‘widespread significant flooding is not currently expected’. As for public transportation, Traffic Scotland has warned that ‘persistent and occasionally heavy rain may lead to some flooding and transport disruption’ in the affected areas.
Network Rail Scotland has issued a similar update:
More extremely heavy rain is on the way. It won’t be to the levels from Storm Babet, but it will affect the same areas, already with saturated ground. It will bring a risk of flooding.
In case you were in any doubt, winter has well and truly arrived. At least the clocks go back on Sunday so we can all get an extra hour of sleep in, even if it is raining cats and dogs outside.
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Sources used:
Independent: Fog alert across UK as Met Office extends rain warnings ahead of weekend washout
Traffic Scotland: Regional Weather Alerts
