FIRST Minister Humza Yousaf will visit communities devastated by Storm Babet floods today as the clean-up gets underway.
While the storm continues south of the border – 116 flood warnings are in place – towns and villages in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire will begin cleaning-up the mess Babet left behind.
The storm, which began on Thursday, isolated communities in southern Aberdeenshire with the Met Office issuing a number of “danger to life” red weather warnings.
The warnings continued until Sunday which saw residents of Peterculter fighting to stop any damage to their homes until the early hours.
Humza Yousaf is set to see the damage for himself later today as he visits Brechin, as well as speaking to flood-hit residents of the town.
Communities destroyed
The worst effects of Storm Babet were felt in Angus, with two people dying and hundreds of homes being evacuated.
But the storm had a huge impact on a number of Abereenshire communities too; dozens of people at the Dovecot Caravan Park in Laurencekirk have seen their second-homes completely destroyed by the flooding.
Marykirk was the worst hit part of the region as the storm washed away a huge section of a main road in the village.
It was confirmed yesterday that a search operation for a man who was reported to be trapped in a car in the early hours of Friday in Marykirk remains ongoing.
Aberdeen managed to avoid the worst of the storm, although images that surfaced on Sunday show a number of huge trees fallen at Seaton Park.
North Sea rig evacuated
Fears of a potential disaster were raised on Saturday when the Stena Spey platform lost half of its anchors.
Coastguard teams were asked to assist crews from 6.45AM on Saturday morning, before 45 of the 89 men on board were airlifted to safety.
The Stena Drilling platform, located around 146 miles east of Aberdeen, is secure now, according to the company.
A statement said: “Several anchor handling vessels will travel to the location throughout the next 24 hours to begin attaching tow lines to the drilling unit.
“The Stena Spey is safe and the well remains secure.”
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Transport returning
The A90 reopened on Monday morning in both directions between Stonehaven and Brechin, although remains closed between Brechin and Forfar with flooding ongoing.
Aberdeen station closed on Thursday with no trains running in or out of the region.
Services returned to Elgin over the weekend and ScotRail has announced that, as of Monday morning, almost all routes are returning to normal following the storm.
