Storm Babet: four dead across UK in floods and travel chaos
At least four people have died as Storm Babet battered the country for the third consecutive day yesterday.
High winds and heavy rainfall caused flooding, swelled rivers to record-breaking levels and wreaked havoc with rail travel.
Two people died in Scotland on Thursday, Police Scotland said, confirming that a 57-year-old woman had been swept into a river in Angus, and a 56-year-old man had died near Forfar, Angus, after his van was hit by a tree.
Emergency services went door to door in Inverurie to offer help
ANDREW MILLIGAN/PA
Yesterday searches continued for a man missing in Aberdeenshire, who was said to have been trapped in a vehicle in flooding.
A man in his sixties died in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire, on Friday when he was caught in fast-flowing floodwater, West Mercia police said.
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A 19-year-old man was killed when the car he was driving hit a wall in a village near Halifax, West Yorkshire, on Friday night. His four passengers were injured. The weather conditions were said to have contributed to the accident.
Helicopters were sent to assist a North Sea drilling platform, which lost anchors. Stena Drilling said that four of the eight anchors detached themselves from Stena Spey due to the “severe weather”. All 89 personnel were accounted for on the rig, which is 146 miles east of Aberdeen. The coastguard said that it had sent two helicopters to assist.
King’s Cross station in London became dangerously overcrowded and had to close
In London, police closed King’s Cross station[1] due to overcrowding, as stranded passengers attempting to travel north packed the terminal.
There were cancellations and severe delays to rail services across the country. LNER advised customers not to travel due to widespread flooding, and said it expects disruption to continue today.
National Rail urged passengers to use alternative terminals, saying in a statement: “King’s Cross has become too crowded to be safe for all passengers. The police have taken the decision to close the station until the passenger flow is more manageable.”
Rail services were also affected by speed restrictions in Scotland, with trains and crews being out of position after extensive disruption on Friday. There were no LNER services north of Edinburgh, and rail replacement services were unavailable due to road closures.
Water levels in the North Esk river in Angus at one stage were 4.4 metres above normal, half a metre over the highest previously recorded, with levels rendering gauges unreliable, officials said.
In Brechin, Angus, emergency workers helped residents flee flooded homes
ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
In an update yesterday morning, Angus council warned that the town of Brechin and other parts of Angus, “are now only accessible via boat”.
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The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has warned that disruption across Scotland could continue as “river levels remain high”.
The Derwent, which runs through Derbyshire, also reached record levels. There were about 90 flood alerts in place across the county yesterday afternoon, including three severe “danger-to-life” warnings.
Derbyshire’s most famous stately home, Chatsworth House, which lies close to the Derwent, and was used as the location for Pemberley in the Keira Knightley film version of Pride and Prejudice, was closed to visitors on Friday and did not reopen until Saturday afternoon.
The house, as well as its farmyard and gardens, had been shut due to “worsening conditions” across the estate, according to a statement.
Danger-to-life warnings were also issued for rivers at Llandrinio in Powys where the Severn and Vyrnwy meet.
The Energy Networks Association said that about 100,000 electricity customers had been affected by power cuts due to Storm Babet, but as of Saturday morning 96 per cent had been reconnected, leaving 4,000 still without power.