Storm Babet live: ‘danger to life’ warnings issued and trains cancelled as wind and rain batter UK – as it happened (2024)

• Flooding from major rivers could continue until Tuesday, the Environment Agency (EA) has warned. Katharine Smith, EA flood duty manager, said: “Ongoing flooding is probable on some larger rivers including the Severn, Ouse and Trent through to Tuesday.”

• The Met Office has lifted the red weather warning that was in place in parts of Scotland but warned that conditions remain treacherous. Amber and yellow warnings are still in force throughout the coming hours with some impacts possible.

• 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.

• The Environment Agency issued more than 280 flood warnings and three severe flood warnings are now in place in across England. The most severe of these is in Derbyshire, where the agency says there is a risk to life.

• Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) says it restored power to 36,000 of its customers by 4.45pm on Saturday following a “day of progress”. It is now making a “final push” and working to “reconnect the remaining 700 properties by the end of tonight”.

Some residents in the Aberdeen suburb of Peterculter have now been advised to leave their homes as a precaution in case of flooding, the BBC reported.

Properties in Millbank Terrace, Millside Road and the Culter Den area are affected.

Aberdeen City Council said a rest centre is available at Culter Village Hall.

The Scottish government’s Resilience Room (SGoRR) met this evening to discuss the impact of Storm Babet.

A retired man with Parkinson’s disease said he felt safer on holiday in Jordan than dealing with the “dangerous” situation which awaited him as he got a train home from King’s Cross station in London.

John Hinson, 61, who lives in North Ferriby, East Yorkshire, arrived in London on Friday after a two-week holiday to Jordan.

He said people were “crashing against the barrier” as they flocked for trains at King’s Cross and his assistance was cancelled before he boarded a Hull Trains service to Brough on Saturday morning.

“It was just so dangerous,” he told the PA news agency.

“I have Parkinson’s and I have difficulty walking, so my wife (Joanna, 61) went to ask for assistance and all assistance was cancelled.

“We were basically told that if we cannot get the train, we need to cancel and come back again.”

He said the assistance would have been a wheelchair to the train, but as this was not arranged for him, he “just made” the train, “shuffling” behind his wife who had to drag two large suitcases.

“I took my medication early to ensure I had enough dopamine in my system to cope.

“There did not seem to be any police about or any management,” he added.

A spokesperson from Network Rail 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.”

October is the wettest month on record for any month, beating November 1970 (156.2mm), according to the Met Office’s deputy chief meteorologist.

More than 300 flood warnings – where less dangerous flooding is expected – have been issued by the Environment Agency across England since Thursday, with the greatest numbers in Yorkshire and the East and West Midlands.

On Saturday afternoon, 275 warnings remained in place, while the agency said 237 flooded properties had been reported, with a further 20,000 protected by defences, the PA news agency reported.

Scotland has also been badly affected and a red weather warning – which also warns of danger to life – was issued for the second consecutive day for parts of Angus and Aberdeenshire.

The Met Office downgraded the warning on Saturday afternoon after rainfall across eastern Scotland eased.

In Wales, a severe flood warning has been issued for the village of Llandrinio, Powys, as well as isolated properties in the Severn-Vyrnwy confluence area.

Helicopters have been deployed to assist a North Sea drilling platform which lost anchors during Storm Babet.

Stena Drilling said four of the eight anchors detached themselves from Stena Spey due to the “severe weather”, the BBC reported.

All 89 personnel are accounted for on the rig, which is 146 miles east of Aberdeen.

A HM Coastguard spokesperson said it sent two of its helicopters to assist the platform.

Storm Babet has cut power from more than 33,000 customers in Scotland but the vast majority are now reconnected, energy firm Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said.

As of 4.45pm, work was ongoing to reconnect 700 properties north of the border.

It was a surreal moment, even for a poet.

David Nugent-Malone was taking his dog Jake for their usual walk through a local forest in Mugdock, Stirlingshire during Storm Babet when he saw the forest floor “weirdly” lifting up and down in the wind.

He captured the moment in a video that he posted on X, writing: “The woods were moving like the sea this morning.”

In a further post, where footage shows Jake running towards the ground as it lifts into the air and then standing on the forest floor as it rises, Nugent-Malone wrote: “The earth was breathing deeply this morning.”

The Met Office has lifted the red weather warning that was in place in parts of Scotland but warned that conditions remain treacherous.

Derby City Council said they are experiencing the highest recorded water levels of the River Derwent as roads were flooded across the city.

The council in the East Midlands said in a statement: “It’s been a really challenging night for our crews, and emergency services across the city, and the picture in Derby remains challenging today with floodwater still affecting a lot of roads around the city.

“A Severe Flood Warning is in place for some areas of the city. The last time this kind of warning was issued was 10 years ago and is often related to coastal flooding, which indicates that this remains a serious situation.

“Our teams have worked tirelessly overnight, but we are expecting a second peak later this afternoon, so we aren’t out of the woods yet, and there is still a lot of work to do.

“We know that the river levels are likely to remain high for a number of hours, and will then go down very slowly.”

The council added cleaning up after the floods and reopening roads and footways may take several days.

Sandbags have been placed along a breached river wall in Brechin to try to prevent another deluge after the town was hit by “devastating” flooding from Storm Babet.

River Street and nearby areas in the town were inundated with water when the adjacent River South Esk burst its banks in the early hours of Friday.

The water had receded on Saturday, but the area was still at risk of flooding amid a second red weather warning for heavy rain in Angus.

The street was left strewn with debris and covered in silt on Saturday, with many homes damaged by water in the lower floors.

Almost all residents had left after being advised to evacuate or were rescued by emergency workers.

Many were sheltering in rest centres set up in the town.

The unprecedented water levels of the river overtopped a flood defence wall installed in 2016, and an older section of the river wall was swept away.

Local haulage company FB Murray used lorries and diggers to move one-tonne sandbags along a section of the damaged wall in a bid to shore up the street.

Business owner Fred Murray said he had been “frustrated” by the lack of action and decided to go ahead with the work without the council’s permission.

He said: “We do a lot of work for oil and gas and wind farms, so we have an indication of what things are needed.”

Flood warnings for Kintore, Kemnay and Inverurie are in place with a flood alert covering the Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City area.