(Brechin) The United Kingdom was hit by a severe storm, Babettwhich left two dead in Scotland and caused significant flooding, and is heading towards Scandinavia on Friday.
Heavy rain and strong winds have battered a large area from Ireland to the north of the UK since Wednesday, and a red alert remains in force until Saturday in northeast Scotland where “exceptional rainfall » are still planned.
In this particularly affected region, the body of a 57-year-old woman was found in a river in the coastal region of Angus, between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and a 56-year-old man was killed by a falling tree. on his vehicle, police said.
Hundreds of people have had to evacuate their homes since Thursday because of the floods, such as in the town of Brechin, where the coast guards went door to door Thursday evening to ask residents to leave their homes, noted a photographer from the AFP.
PHOTO ANDY BUCHANAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
“The protections at Brechin failed around 4 a.m. and the river level is 4.4 meters above its normal level. This is unprecedented,” Angus Local Council said on X.
“The protections at Brechin failed around 4 a.m. and the river level is 4.4 meters above its normal level. This is unprecedented,” Angus Local Council said on X.
“It’s absolutely horrible,” Jill Scott, local elected official, told the PA agency, referring to people “trapped” in certain neighborhoods of the city. “The boats (rescuers) try to reach them, but cannot, because the current is too strong.”
Many schools were closed on Friday in the region, roads and several rail links were cut, and more than 20,000 homes suffered power cuts, the vast majority of which have now been restored.
In Ireland, first country hit by the storm Babett As of Wednesday, hundreds of buildings were flooded in Cork, where city officials described flooding not seen in at least thirty years.
Not far away, the army was deployed to evacuate residents and a hospital in the town of Midleton.
“Exceptional”
PHOTO ANDREW MILLIGAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Heavy rain and strong winds have hit a large area from Ireland to the north of the United Kingdom since Wednesday.
The UK Weather Service has issued an orange and yellow alert for several areas of northern and central England, and for north Wales until Saturday, where flooding is already being reported by local authorities .
They warned that some communities could be isolated for several days due to heavy flooding caused by the storm, while the British Geological Survey, a government agency, warned of a risk of landslides in Scotland.
“This is not your usual fall weather. This is an exceptional event and we are likely to continue to see significant impacts, with possible further flooding and property damage,” said Andy Page of the Met Office.
The storm is now heading towards Denmark and Sweden where meteorologists are expecting heavy flooding.
“The wind has already started to gain strength and (it) should peak […] especially during the night,” said Ida Dahlström, a meteorologist at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI).
SMHI and Danish weather agency DMI have both issued warnings for heavy rain, floods, strong winds and gusts.
Seventy-seven flights, to and from Copenhagen Airport in Denmark, were canceled, he wrote on X.
Several ferry operators have suspended their services between Denmark and Germany as a precaution, and will not operate the usual routes between Sweden and Germany and between Sweden and Poland.