Storm Babet – live: Major incidents declared as three killed during flood chaos and red weather warnings

21 Oct 2023 • 4:46 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

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Major incidents were declared in parts of the UK after three people were killed as Storm Babet continues to batter the UK with high winds, torrential rain and severe flooding.

Across the UK, roads have closed and train services have been left in disarray or cancelled.

Suffolk and Derbyshire county councils declared major incidents, and a man died in fast-flowing floodwater in Shropshire.

It was the storm’s first death in England after a van driver was killed by a falling tree near Forfar, Scotland, and a woman was swept away in a river in Angus.

A passenger plane had to be evacuated after it skidded off the runway at Leeds Bradford Airport as it tried to land in high winds.

The village of Edzell, near Brechin in eastern Scotland, was completely cut off by flooding, while people in 60 homes around Brechin who had refused to budge when the rest of the town was evacuated were finally rescued as hundreds of houses flooded.

The Met Office issued a new red warning for rain, meaning there is a risk to life, in eastern Scotland for all day on Saturday.

Have you been affected by Storm Babet? Email athena.stavrou@independent.co.uk.