Guests at an Aviemore caravan park are facing a second evacuation in as many weeks as Storm Babet lashes the north of Scotland.
Aviemore Holiday Park, which sits on the River Spey and was flooded two weeks ago during heavy rain, said in a Facebook post on Thursday guests “should be prepared for evacuation from our park at short notice over the coming hours”.
A subsequent post said guests should have important items such as medication ready to go with them if evacuated.
The park’s message came after a direct warning from Highland Council.
The council said it advised Aviemore Holiday Park to be on alert for Storm Babet.
The park is “to be prepared for evacuation at short notice, if the rescue services and the local authorities deem this necessary”, according to the council.
Our calls to Aviemore Holiday Park were answered this evening by a man who said he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the owners.
Aviemore Holiday Park has already faced heavy flooding earlier this month when torrential rain caused the Spey to burst its banks.
As nearby businesses were flooded out, the holiday park was cordoned off by police over safety concerns.
Water from the Spey spilt out between the chalets along the banks, causing severe flooding across the park.
Holidaymakers were evacuated by emergency crews as water levels rose.
Fallen trees likely to be ‘biggest hazard’ from Storm Babet
Despite the latest warning for Aviemore Holiday Park, businesses in the area seemed less concerned about Storm Babet than Highland Council.
A local businessperson who did not want to be identified told the Press and Journal trees were down on roads in other areas but that Aviemore was “not too bad”.
“It’s windy,” the person said, adding that trees obstructing roads were likely “to be our biggest hazard over the next 24 hours”.
A woman who answered the phone at Aviemore Youth Hostel also said the weather was not that bad.
The woman, who declined to give her name, said that because of the hostel’s higher elevation, “it would have to be biblical for us to be evacuated here”.
The hostel sits above the Old Bridge Inn, which was one of the businesses flooded two weeks ago.
