Storm Babet: The headlinespublished at 22:58 British Summer Time 19 October 2023
As we close our live coverage of the havoc wreaked by Storm Babet this evening, here's a reminder of today's headlines:
- Police recovered a woman's body from a river in Angus during a rare red weather warning covering eastern Scotland
- The 57-year-old was swept into the Water of Lee in Glen Esk as the storm battered parts of the country
- HM Coastguard knocked doors in Brechin urging people to evacuate as late as 22:00 on Thursday amid fears that the River South Esk could burst its banks
- Residents of more than 400 properties in Angus had been told to evacuate earlier
- The red severe weather alert – which warns of risk to life - was extended to more areas of Scotland including Perth and Kinross, Dundee, Angus and south Aberdeenshire and runs until noon on Friday
- At 21:45, 3,300 homes were without power as a result of the storm, according to Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, external
- Police advise against travel in the red alert area and to avoid it in areas covered by amber warnings
- The Forth Road Bridge remains closed, trains have been cancelled across Scotland, and CalMac’s ferry routes have been badly hit
- Schools in Angus will remain shut on Friday
- An amber warning for rain has been issued for parts of northern England and the Midlands
- In Cumbria, a woman and four-year-old girl had to be rescued from a car stuck in floodwater amid heavy rain
- A business owner in Devon said on Wednesday he had "lost everything" after his beach bar was swept into the sea
We'll be back with more live coverage from 06:00 tomorrow.
Wherever you are this evening, stay safe. Thanks for joining us. Today's editors were Paul McLaren, Mary McCool and Adam Durbin. The writers were Steven McKenzie, Aoife Walsh, Imogen James, Katy Scott and Craig Hutchison.