Storm Babet: Plane skids off runway at Leeds Bradford Airport amid extreme weather
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A second rare red weather alert for rain and hundreds of flood warnings are in place as Storm Babet continues to batter the country.
The Met Office has warned of “danger to life” from fast flowing water and floods in the worst affected areas, where up to 100mm (4in) could fall in 24 hours.
The red alert, in place until midnight on Saturday has been issued for Scotland’s Grampian and Central, Tayside & Fife regions.
People living in the regions have been told to stay home and avoid travel. Shona Robison, Scotland’s deputy first minister, warned the worst impacts of Storm Babet are “yet to come”.
“Protecting the public is our immediate priority, and we are co-ordinating a national effort to ensure that people are safe,” she said.
Meanwhile, some 339 red flood warnings are in force across England following sustained heavy rain over the past two days.
Earlier, 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.
Have you been affected by Storm Babet? Email athena.stavrou@independent.co.uk.
400 homes flooded in Derbyshire - local MP
About 400 homes have been flooded in a Derbyshire town, the local MP has said.
Labour’s Toby Perkins said homes and roads in his Chesterfield constituency had been badly hit by heavy rain.
"About 400 houses have been flooded, many of the businesses here have lost all their stock and will be closed,” he told the BBC.
"I’ve just been into Tramway pub which was knee high in water, has no electricity. And so last night we had people at the Queen’s Park Sports Centre who didn’t have anywhere to stay.
"Many of the people who live in this area are private renters, many of them don’t have flood insurance because you can’t get flood insurance if you’re in an area that’s prone to flooding.
“So a lot of the people I was speaking to last night have no idea where they’re going to be living from now.”
Four people trapped on car roof amid Storm Babet floods rescued by Nottingham fire service
Nottingham Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) helped four people trapped on car roof after floods to safety on Thursday 19 October as Storm Babet engulfed the Midlands, Oliver Browning reports.
On Friday, an amber weather warning for rain was in place for some parts of northern England including Yorkshire and Manchester, as well as some of the Midlands, including Nottingham.
Rescues efforts have been extended as three people have died and hundreds of homes have been flooded during Storm Babet.
Via social media platform X, NFRS warned people not to put their lives and those of the fire services at risk by attempting to drive through flood water.
Watch part of the rescue effort here:
Four people trapped on car roof amid Storm Babet floods rescued by fire service
Nottingham Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) helped four people trapped on car roof after floods to safety on Thursday 19 October as Storm Babet engulfed the Midlands. On Friday, an amber weather warning for rain was in place for some parts of northern England including Yorkshire and Manchester, as well as some of the Midlands, including Nottingham. Rescues efforts have been extended as three people have died and hundreds of homes have been flooded during Storm Babet. Via social media platform X, NFRS warned people not to put their lives and those of the fire services at risk by attempting to drive through flood water.
Hundreds of flood warnings in place
Hundreds of flood warnings are in place across England and Scotland as Storm Babet brings heavy downpours.
Some 339 red alerts have been issued in parts of England, with residents in the affected areas told “flooding is expected”.
Scottish authorities, meanwhile, have issued 19 warnings with alerts for further rain also in force.
File photo: People flee flooded home in boat
Flood barriers being erected in ‘high-risk’ areas
Julie Foley, director of flood strategy and adaptation at the Environment Agency, has said temporary flood barriers are being deployed in high-risk areas.
She told BBC One’s Breakfast programme: "Flooding has devastating impacts for people actually in terms of the impacts on their homes, as well as much longer term impacts actually, that you don’t see afterwards in terms of the mental health impacts.
"To offer reassurance, the Environment Agency teams are operating and working really hard around the country, with other emergency providers and with local communities to do our best to keep people safe.
"So we’re operating all of our flood barriers using our flood storage areas, we’re deploying temporary barriers to areas at high-risk and we’re making sure our flood defences are operating really well.
"And we’re already seeing the impacts of that in terms of better protecting thousands of properties around the country."
File photo: A car stuck in floodwater under a railway bridge at Upwell Street, Sheffield
Over 100 people rescued in Derbyshire, says fire service
Clive Stanbrook, area manager at Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, told BBC Breakfast that more than 100 people had been rescued on Friday, including 20 people from a care home in Duffield.
He said: “We declared a major incident at four o’clock yesterday afternoon, that was because of intense rainfall and intense flooding that we expected to get worse as the day went on.
“We had multiple rescues last night. We are expecting the peak in the middle of the county at 4am this morning which will then go further to the south of the county later on this morning into early afternoon.
“We rescued over 100 people yesterday. For example, just on one road in Chesterfield in the north of the county, we rescued 60 people when that (water level) became up to the top of cars and several HGVs were stuck as well.
“There is a village called Duffield in Derbyshire and we rescued 20 people from one care home there.
“Also there was 18 houses that were evacuated in a village called Ironville, again in the north of the county.”
Leeds Bradford Airport set to reopen at 10am on Saturday
Leeds Bradford Airport is set to reopen at 10am on Saturday after closing on Friday when high winds forced a passenger plane to skid off a runway.
In a statement on its website at 6.15am, the airport said: “The airport remains closed due to an earlier incident.
“We expect to reopen at 10am today, however we will continue to post regular updates as this is subject to change.
“We are working collaboratively to resolve this situation and return services safely and as quickly as possible.
“We ask passengers to contact their airline to check the status of their flight before travelling to the airport.”
Emergency services at the scene after a passenger plane came off the runway at Leeds Bradford Airport while landing in windy conditions during Storm Babet
Watch: Clever sheepdog saves ewes stranded on Welsh farm
A sheepdog came to the rescue of three ewes who had been cut off by floodwater as Storm Babet unleashed floods all over the UK.
Llyr Derwydd, 44, a farmer from near Ruthin in Wales, said he had gone to check on his sheep in Flintshire on Friday afternoon (20 October) when he saw three ewes “stranded on this little spot on the field” having been “cut off” by the water.
With the water producing dangerous conditions for a rescue, sheepdog Patsy was the heroine of the hour.
“I just thought, ‘I’ll see if the dog will go’. I gave her the command and she swam across,” Mr Derwydd said.
“It was quite dangerous because I didn’t know how deep it was. She’s a strong swimmer and she was able to swim across.”
Oliver Browning reports:
Watch: Clever sheepdog saves ewes stranded on Welsh farm as Storm Babet floods UK
A sheepdog came to the rescue of three ewes who had been cut off by floodwater as Storm Babet unleashed floods all over the UK. Llyr Derwydd, 44, a farmer from near Ruthin in Wales, said he had gone to check on his sheep in Flintshire on Friday afternoon (20 October) when he saw three ewes “stranded on this little spot on the field” having been “cut off” by the water. With the water producing dangerous conditions for a rescue, sheepdog Patsy was the heroine of the hour. “I just thought, ‘I’ll see if the dog will go’. I gave her the command and she swam across,” Mr Derwydd said. “It was quite dangerous because I didn’t know how deep it was. She’s a strong swimmer and she was able to swim across.”
In pictures: Storm Babet raging through the UK on Friday
A couple and their dog are rescued by a Coastguard team from a flooded street in Brechin, northeast Scotland on Friday
Storm Babet Plane skids off runway at Leeds-Bradford Airport amid extreme weather
Waves crash near to the 'Freddie Gilroy' sculpture by artist Ray Lonsdale in Scarborough, as Storm Babet batters the country
‘A very wet start to Saturday’, says Met Office
“A very wet start” is how the Met Office has described the beginning of Saturday as Storm Babet continues to batter the UK.
The forecaster wrote on X: “A very wet start to Saturday in Scotland and parts of northern England with strong easterly winds.”
“Brighter further showers, although scattered showers continue, particularly in the southeast.”
Storm Babet shows no signs of abating on Saturday
Storm Babet shows no signs of abating as downpours continue to batter the UK on Saturday, with three people dead and another red "danger to life" warning in place.
The rare red weather warning has been issued for parts of eastern Scotland all day, prompting First Minister Humza Yousaf to warn: "We have not seen the last of this."
Yellow and amber warnings for rain that were in place across much of England overnight have expired, however a yellow warning for wind remains in place until 12pm across the north east of England and eastern Scotland.
Across England, there were over 353 flood warnings and 248 alerts on Saturday morning, while 55,000 people were left without power on Friday as a result of the storm. Around 45,000 of those were reconnected to the grid as of the evening, the Energy Networks Association said.
Met forecaster Jonathan Vautrey said: "The focus of the rainfall from Saturday shifts back northwards over towards eastern and northern Scotland.
"Some parts of those areas have seen about a month and a half's worth of rain already, but there's another band that's forecast to track its way northwards over the course of the night and push its way towards relatively similar areas.
"So there are further red and amber rain warnings in force for Saturday, with the potential to push those areas close towards two months of rain in the span of three days."
Simon O'Brien (left) using his homemade boat, which he built for his grandchildren, to rescue elderly residents from their home in the village of Debenham, Suffolk
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2023-10-21 09:34:30Z
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