Storm Babet - Extreme rainfall NE Scotland and widely elsewhere*

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2023-10-19

An unusually early warning for the low possibility of some extreme rainfall for NE Scotland at the end of the week. Note the text of the warning!

Please keep a close eye on this one and be prepared to act if necessary. Ensure that if you live in an at risk area that you are ready.
https://ready.scot/respond/severe-weather/rain-and-flooding

*[Please note - title edited again by MNHQ at OP's request to reflect evolving situation]

I feel like I'm not being very useful today. It's been a pretty unprecedented situation. I'm hopeful that the rain is easing off, but of course the water in the hills has to flow down.

This is the current radar.

Hi, thanks for those that gave me advice yesterday. I didn’t make the wedding in West Cheshire sadly. Even the main road was blocked and impassable and I knew the taxi wouldn’t have got us back later. We had our dogs to think about too so couldn’t have risked being stranded away from home. Very sad but it was the right decision to stay home safe and dry.

Hey, you're always useful!

I'm unsurprised Winds, but I'm glad you're safe.

I should make it clear that when I said the rain is hopefully easing off, this doesn't apply to NE Scotland.

Thanks Shell.

If it's any consolation to the disappointed to be cancelling plans people. I'm in the same boat (pun intended). It can't be helped, I'm afraid it's the consequences of severe weather in a rapidly changing climate. Im drinking wine and feeling a bit sad, but it is what it is.

I was meant to be at a musical in Forfar tonight but it was (rightly) cancelled. The man in the van who was killed by the falling tree near there was from my town apparently so it really hits home when you're sitting feeling sad about not doing something fun for a couple of hours. The footy match I was going to tomorrow is cancelled too so I'm planning on a weekend of fluffy blankets, watching rugby on TV and drinking wine instead so it's not too bad an alternative.

Yes I don’t think any of our weekend plans will happen. Too difficult to drive tomorrow and the dc outdoor sports have all cancelled for Sunday. I’m going to treat it like a mini lockdown and make everyone play monopoly 😀

Well, that's just cruel!

I'm in Suffolk, close to some quite badly affected villages. I didn't have a clue what I was driving into this morning else I would have made us all stay home!

The main A road into work was like driving in a river. We usually do school runs as part of our breakfast club but decided it was too dangerous to risk taking anyone. The schools closed by mid morning anyway. Most of our children were collected early but we called the parents of ones staying later to collect and we could get home by 4pm.

My daughter (a year 10) was at school ten miles away along one of the worse routes to get into town on so her friends mum took her home and she staying the night. I will collect her tomorrow. My adult daughters were at work but the road had cleared a bit by time they had to leave for home. Usually they visit friends or go to gym etc in evening but tonight they came straight home.
I've been looking at local Facebook groups this evening and loads of people have had their houses flooded and they roads in many places are closed and impassable.

I'm fortunate to live on a hill so while my garden is very sodden (clay soil) the house is fine.

Very little rain in Edinburgh, but the wind is full on. Went down to the wee harbour on the Forth, near me.

I haven't looked at this thread since about 2pm, so had absolutely No Idea

@OhYouBadBadKitten this thread is achieving its intended purpose. Not meaning to be rude, but we all know it's fucking raining. (Seems wrong to swear on this thread, somehow, but today I feel it's justified.) Thank you so much for starting it

I am fine where I am, and have local shops, and am high up on the edge of Durham City. It felt like God had left the shower on, on its coldest setting, for much of the day. The carpark was like a pool, and the wind was blowing across it and making waves! But drainage is good, so it's OK again. Still a bit windy. My flat is all electric, so my only worry is the power going off. Which would mean No Tea <gibber>

Found this heart-warming story. It was probably dangerous for those local lads, but those cows are someone's livelihood. A certain amount of derring-do in the young is unavoidable, and often useful.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-norfolk-67167972?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=6532d15d364b3f1612ec5ad5%26Photo%20shows%20rescued%20cows%20now%20safe%2C%20if%20a%20little%20soggy%262023-10-20T19%3A28%3A02.076Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:305c25ad-5c8e-4a8a-b113-a341c23fe43e&pinned_post_asset_id=6532d15d364b3f1612ec5ad5&pinned_post_type=share

Stay safe, all.

It sounded like an incredibly dangerous rescue with people in water being described as neck deep. I saw photos of the car park the cows are next to and you could only see the roofs of lower (i.e not the newer tall type of?) cars.

I understand why: it would be awful to watch creatures drown, but that plus other things like seeing videos of people walking through waist deep flood water makes me think it will only be luck not judgement if the number of deaths stays at the current number.

Schools locally have got pupils stranded overnight. I'm reliably informed that at one local school, the kitchen staff stayed on and managed to produce dinner for 150 in spite of it being half term tomorrow (and therefore kitchen stocks presumably depleted).

Ipswich (Suffolk's county town) has what must be thousands of households without water after a treatment centre nearby has been flooded.

https://inyourarea.digdat.co.uk/anglianwater

Found a photo of the cars:

https://twitter.com/suffolkcc/status/1715452404949238034?t=6ha4MgqzFsoOz5m4R7bIrA&s=19

There is no doubt that it was a risky situation, however it is sometimes necessary to take a carefully considered risk, ie do a cost/benefit analysis, especially in extreme circumstances. As they were young lads, I expect they just wanted to help, and of course being young, would be fit and strong. I imagine the local population were working together on this, and doing their best to mitigate risks and keep everyone as safe as they could.

(My DS is a firefighter.)

Oh yes, I don't disagree, given there were living creatures at stake but e.g. I know people who e.g. waded through waist deep flood water to get home instead of staying at their (dry, open) workplace or who walked 4 miles in the rain and again waded through waist deep water to get home to their house which they wanted to dig sandbags for.

I've woken up this morning and my street is flooded. 😔 People who have lived here 30 + years have said it's never happened before. I hope everyone who has been affected is ok, it's scary what this volume of water in a short space of time can do.

@Whinge That really bad luck , is it in your homes ? Hope everyone is ok .

We drove up to Shropshire from London last night as it seemed fine when we left - barely any rain in London despite warnings. Shropshire/Worcestershire was pretty intense though with roads closed, lots of surface water and someone killed nearby. Stay safe, everyone.

A huge ash tree split in half in a gust of wind, about twenty feet from me, as I sat in a car park, waiting for a friend. I couldn’t work out what the groaning, creaking noise was, and then it was falling. So grateful I wasn't under it.
Lots of flooding and power cuts in my area and all the level crossings were out of commission.

Still raining here in Central Scotland but wind has dropped. We are south of the red area,just, so a fair bit of localised flooding but nothing too drastic.
DD slap bang in the red area where river has burst its banks. Pretty bad there.

Waves to fellow local! Not ventured out yet today but the water level in the back garden is dropping so hopefully the roads will also be clearing!

Walking through floods is especially dangerous as you won't be able to see lifted manhole covers. Gives me the willies.

There could be any number of unseen obstacles in flood water and that is before we think about what is flowing out of the overwhelmed sewers.

I would like to add my thanks for this thread; I'm SW Scotland and it's been a bit breezy and damp here; obviously watching the news but hadn't appreciated the breadth of the damage and risk. I had planned to be in Derbyshire from today but after reading this thread and checking a bit further, decided to stay at home. It still feels strange that the rest of the country is struggling so much, lots of tweeting birds and crickets out my window! Hope everyone is ok x

Friend has an AIRBNB her anticipated Scottish guests in this area have had to cancel

I do agree about unnecessary risks. But I understand why a PP's 17-year-old son would think nothing of wading through a flooded road to get home. And I was so chuffed at the rescue of the herd of cows.

You can't keep DC safe for ever. Just you wait until they are learning to drive! And then they pass their test and head off on their own!! When they are that sort of age, you have to hide your anxiety, and hope and pray, especially if you remember all the mistakes you yourself made as a newbie driver, and were lucky enough to get away with...