Firework displays were cancelled, trees felled and flood warnings put in place as the north-east was battered by the first wild weather of the winter at the weekend.
Gale-force winds and driving rain hammered Aberdeen city, Aberdeenshire and Moray on Saturday, prompting the cancellation of several events and causing chaos on the roads.
About an inch-and-a-half of rain fell at Fyvie between noon on Saturday and yesterday, while at Aberdeen Airport forecasters recorded just over an inch of water.
The Met Office issued a yellow flood alert for Grampian, but removed it around 3pm yesterday, while Sepa’s amber alert was expected to remain in place until today as the water levels of the rivers Don and Deveron stayed high.
The River Carron in Stonehaven was “flowing quite strongly” but had not risen to alarming levels, according to Frieda Burns, who like dozens of residents was badly affected in last December’s floods.
She said: “I’ve been keeping an eye on the river and it’s not swollen too much.
“Down in the town we are always nervy when it rains like this.”
In Aberdeen, huge puddles of water gathered under the bridge on Greenburn Drive, Stoneywood, yesterday, while King Street in Aberdeen was also badly flooded, forcing motorists to pass the Lidl supermarket one at a time in the middle of the road.
In Moray, police were urging motorists to drive with care after a landslip near Haggieshaw Woods on the B9014 Dufftown-Huntly road.
As the weather began to clear late yesterday afternoon, forecasters said the worst had passed, predicting “good spells of sunshine” with a few showers for the rest of the week.
The news bodes well for fireworks displays, including Rosehearty’s event which was cancelled with just 30 minutes’ notice on Saturday due to the rain.
The bonfire, which is also for the Fraserburgh public and raises money for older people, has been rescheduled for tomorrow after organisers decided to cancel amid safety concerns.
Organiser Dawn-Marie Duncan said: “When the Red Cross decided to leave there was no hope of going ahead. We have to keep people safe.
“We had been preparing all afternoon, but we couldn’t risk ruining all the high value fireworks, so had to cancel.
“Businesses donate for the fireworks and the money we make from selling food and glow sticks goes towards Christmas hampers for our elderly residents.
“We have decided to hold the display on Tuesday night instead and in the meantime we will be working our magic on the bonfire to get it dry enough to light.”
Ellon’s fireworks display was also rained off, along with an open day planned for the rugby club yesterday.
However, the events in Banchory, Inverurie, Stonehaven, Elgin and Forres all went ahead as planned.
Police were yesterday urging motorists to take care on the roads.
Two trees fell on the A947 Aberdeen to Banff road, near Fyvie, leaving it only passable with care, while the A944 Aberdeen to Alford road near Lumsden was also badly affected by surface water.
The A95 Aberlour-Grantown road was closed for several hours after a black Vauxhall Corsa crashed into a power pole at Bridge of Derrybeg at about 6am.
Local diversions were put in place while SSE worked to fix the structure, and the road reopened by early afternoon.
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