Flood warnings remain

Flooding continues to affect parts of Scotland following heavy rainfall across the country.

Flood warnings issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) remain across parts of the North East – however the situation is expected to improve as the day progresses and rivers recede.

SEPA and local resilience partners continue to work with responders on the ground to support those communities who will need it most.

A yellow warning for rain remains in place for a large part of eastern Scotland, with disruption likely to continue over the weekend.

Since daylight, Network Rail has been checking routes that were closed or subject to line speed restrictions overnight and into this morning to assess when they can return to normal operations. Some roads remain impacted by flooding therefore drivers should pay attention to the conditions at hand.

Advice remains to check with your operator to see if your service is affected. Traffic Scotland provides regular updates on the trunk road network and Police Scotland continue to warn of a high risk of disruption.

The Scottish Government’s resilience arrangements were activated yesterday, and the committee held a further meeting today (Saturday 19 November).

Justice Secretary and lead Minister for resilience Keith Brown said:

“I’d like to thank local resilience partners and the emergency services for their ongoing work to ensure those communities most at risk are kept safe, and urgently get the support they need.

“Although the situation appears to be improving, we still have flood warnings in place so please take extra care if you are out and about and do not attempt to walk or drive through flood water. The conditions continue to cause some disruption to the transport network - so it’s important people plan their journeys before they set off – particularly if they are looking to use the trunk roads or travel by rail.

“The Scottish Government’s resilience arrangements remain activated to ensure appropriate measures are in place, and we will continue to monitor the situation over the course of the weekend.

“We remain in close contact with resilience partners, local authorities and the emergency services to ensure people in the affected areas receive the latest information, advice and support where needed.”

Pascal Lardet, SEPA’s Flood Duty Manager, said:

“As anticipated, this was a serious and significant flood event, particularly in the North East.  The event was similar in magnitude to 2016’s Storm Frank, with record high river flows which are now receding. 

“In the South Esk at Brechin we saw the highest river level on record*, with the area’s new flood protection scheme significantly reducing the impact of fast flowing water and on the River Dee at Ballater, we saw the second highest river level recorded.

“Whilst today we’re seeing an improving picture, a number of regional alerts and local flood warnings remain in force which we’ll review across the day. We’re grateful to families, communities, businesses and partners who have responded with resilience.  We’ll continue to see some wet weather over the week end as affected areas recover and our advice remains the same – stay vigilant;  keep checking the latest information from SEPA and public partners; if you haven’t done so already, register for free alerts and warnings from SEPA’s floodline service; plan any travel with care and don’t drive or walk through or near flood water.  There’s more information available from SEPA floodline, or from ready.scot.”

Background

(*) South Esk at Brechin – Highest river level on record at 3.5m on 18/11/22 against a previous high on 30/12/15 of 3.2m.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) issues flood alerts and warnings for Scotland. View the latest updates on their website.

Updates on ScotRail services and road conditions are available online.

Advice on preparing for severe weather can be found on the Ready Scotland website.