Storm Babet poses ‘danger to life’ in England and Scotland
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Storm Babet, which UK agencies are warning poses a “risk to life” as it continues to batter parts of the UK.
Three severe flood warnings issued for the River Derwent in Derbyshire.
A rare second “danger to life” red warning is also in place for parts of eastern Scotland on Saturday.
More than 100 people have been rescued from flooded areas, while dozens of people spent the night in emergency accommodation and about 4,000 people across the UK were still without power on Saturday.
The Environment Agency has put three severe flood warnings in place around the River Derwent in Derbyshire, meaning deep and fast-flowing water carries a significant risk of death or serious injury. Areas most at risk include the Derby water treatment works. There is also flooding in Derby city centre.
The Met Office warned people to expect “exceptional” amounts of heavy and persistent rainfall, deep and fast-flowing flood water, dangerous driving conditions and loss of power on Saturday.
Amber warnings for rain and possible flooding are also in place for north-east Scotland, while gales in excess of 60 to 70mph are expected across eastern Scotland and north-east England, with a yellow warning for wind in place until noon.
Key events
London’s King’s Cross train station closes
King’s Cross train station in London has been forced to close due to overcrowding on the platforms, brought on on by storm-induced delays and cancellations.
Network Rail said crowd control measures were due to the disruption to LNER services.
A spokesperson said:
While many of the country’s rail services are running well today, we’re sorry to say that there is still severe disruption in areas worst hit by Storm Babet, including Scotland, the North East and East Midlands.
In particular, King’s Cross station has crowd control measures in place this afternoon while LNER services to the North East are severely disrupted. We are asking people to check before they travel today, to avoid wasted journeys.
Faisal Ali
In Stirlingshire, Scotland, a dog walker captured mesmerising footage showing powerful winds from Storm Babet lifting the forest floor.
David Nugent-Malone was walking his dog, as a seem in the ground begun caught in Babate’s winds caused floor of the forest to sway up and down. Here is the clip:
BBC Radio 5 Live has a report from Marie Breitstrecher, the manager of the Wheatsheaf inn in Baslow, near Chatsworth house in Derbyshire.
After the River Derwent broke its banks nearby, she and her team helped their neighbours to safety.
“The elderly couple next to us have a bungalow literally next to the river. Their whole bungalow is underwater and they stayed as long as possible,” she told the radio station.
“It went from 0 to 100 within 15 minutes. We were like, ‘you need to leave, now’”.
She said that the waters have since started to recede but there was still debris on the roads and large holes in the roads.
“There’s no power on the opposite side of the road, so we’re just waiting for a bit of sunlight so we can go and assist.” she added.
“It was a community effort.”
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has warned that today’s rain will “prolong” the impact of the existing flooding in place in Scotland and cause additional disruptions.
Ten flood alerts are in place over Scotland. There are also 18 flood warnings and five severe flood warnings.
Flood duty manager Vincent Fitzsimmons told the BBC: “We’ve still got extremely high flows on the larger rivers round Dundee, Angus, Tayside and South Aberdeenshire – particular the North Esk, South Esk, Dee and Don.
“In addition, some of the heaviest and most prolonged rain today will be in Caithness and Sutherland.”
He stressed the situation is dangerous: “Hazards can be hidden, so please don’t walk or drive into flood water.”
Flooding will close the Museum of Making in Derby, which sits on the banks of the River Derwent, for “a significant amount of time”.
Operations manager Alex Rock told the BBC: “It is devastating … it is quite shocking to come and see this.
“We have a lot of members of staff waking up this morning who have put blood, sweat and tears into this building.
“To see it in the state it is in at the moment is really hard for them.”
He added they did what they could to protect the museum.
“The building historically is a water mill – it is expected to flood. All of our collections are relatively safe,” he said.
“There is going to be quite a lot of damage to the ground floor. It is the business interruption for us.
“This is huge – we are going to be closed for quite a significant amount of time. It is very difficult for us to take at the moment.
“I’m holding the keys in my pocket but I can’t get in to the building – it’s not safe.”
Searches continue for a man missing in Marykirk, Aberdeenshire who was reported trapped in a vehicle in flood water nearly 36 hours ago.
Police Scotland received reports of the missing man at 3am on Friday.
In an update on Saturday , Angus Council warned Brechin, and increasingly other parts of Angus, “are now only accessible via boat”.
Members of the emergency services help to move a woman and a dog on a boat in Brechin. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
Forecasters have brought forward the end of the red danger to life weather warning in Scotland by six hours, but authorities remain braced for further flooding on Saturday afternoon.
The alert for extreme rain during Storm Babet now ends at 6pm, rather than midnight, and covers a smaller area than previously – solely Angus and Aberdeenshire.
Train operators around the UK have advised customers not to travel today due to all the disruption that has been caused by the storm.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER), Avanti West Coast and Northern Rail have all warned against travelling as lines are widely flooded.
Northern Rail said all lines between Cheadle Hulme and Wilmslow are blocked due to damage to the overhead electric wires, services are not running from Sheffield to Notingham or Lincoln, the line between Newcastle and Morpeth is closed because of viaduct damage and trains are also unable to travel between Leeds and Doncaster, Harrogate and Bradford.
Speed restictions are in place in Scotland, and there are no LNER services north of Edinburgh and an extemely limited service in place between Doncaster and Wakefield.
Rail replacement bus services may not be available because of road closures.
Flood wardens in Leicestershire have carried out “several rescues” during the storm, which has closed many roads in the area, including Mountsorrel Lane in Sileby, Narrow Lane in Wymeswold and Syston Road in Cossington.
“Please never attempt to drive through flood water,” a spokesperson for Sileby Volunteer Flood Wardens told the BBC.
About 400 houses in Chesterfield in Derbyshire had been flooded and many people “have no idea where they’re going to be living”, according to the Labour MP Toby Perkins.
He told the BBC: “About 400 houses have been flooded, many of the businesses here have lost all their stock and will be closed.”
He added: “Many of the people who live in this area are private renters, many of them don’t have flood insurance because you can’t get flood insurance if you’re in an area that’s prone to flooding.
“So a lot of the people I was speaking to last night have no idea where they’re going to be living from now.
“Lots of them have lost all of their property, all their downstairs property and they’ll be turning up at the council’s door today saying ‘I need rehousing’.”
A Scottish woman who had to be rescued from her home in Brechin, Scotland, has spoken to the BBC about her decision to stay put yesterday despite the red weather warning and risk of floods.
She said she had decided to stay in her home because it did not look like the flood prevention would be breached.
Ms Thomson admitted: “I’m just horrified that I’ve been wrong. I fell asleep and we weren’t keeping an eye on it.”
At 06:00 on Friday, the 78-year-old heard water coming into the garage next to her house and decided to evacuate.
She and her husband packed a bag and tried to drive to safety through the rising flood water but their car got stuck.
Ms Thomson added: “We thought for a horrible moment we were going to get trapped in it because we could not get the doors open.
“It was quite terrifying. The car was full of water and it was freezing.”
Ms Thomson, who has lived in the house for 28 years, eventually managed to get the car to safety.
Laura Demontis and her family also opted to stay in Brechin but were left stranded in the first floor of their home, which was flooded downstairs.
They had no electricity and were awaiting rescue.
She told BBC Scotland News: “I woke up at 04:30 in the morning because there was a sound.
“I looked outside and said ‘Oh my. It has happened’. I made the wrong decision.”
The Met Office has said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the highest rainfall total on Friday was 84mm in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
Some areas of the county experienced flooding and electricity blackouts and flood defence barriers were brought in at Meadowhall Shopping Centre, the Yorkshire Examiner reports.
Leeds Bradford Airport has reopened after heavy winds forced a passenger plane to skid off a runway on Friday, although the airport had said it was planning to reopen from 2pm.
