Storm Babet: Timeline of devastating rainfall in charts and maps

South Esk water levels rose so high they broke Sepa sensors in Brechin. Image: Paul Reid

Storm Babet pushed water levels past all-time records as river South Esk floods Brechin.

Some areas of Angus have seen nearly half of their annual rain total fall in the 36 hours following from 9pm on Thursday.

Meanwhile, water level sensors at Brechin broke as the river inundated the gauges in the early hours of Friday.

With Storm Babet set to continue into the weekend, we have analysed rainfall and water levels up to Friday morning using data from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

Storm Babet’s worst rainfall in charts

Storm Babet hit with full force on Thursday.

Areas covered by the red and amber warnings in Angus, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee saw upwards of 90mm of rain in just 36 hours.

Some areas like the Waterside Perth station, near Glen Esk in Angus, are even approaching 200mm.

That is equal to 43.2% of the station’s total recorded rainfall since the start of 2023.

But rainfall brought by Storm Babet is considerable even for the weather stations which saw more rain so far this year.

The Waterside Perth station recorded more than 10mm of rain each hour between 3pm and 10pm on Thursday.

With 143.4mm over the 36 hours, Charr recorded the most rainfall in Aberdeenshire.

Murton, which is one of the stations nearest to Brechin saw severe rainfall starting at 8am.

And the impact of the rain in the region was clear from the rising River South Esk in Brechin.

At 12pm the first reports began to circulate that Brechin may have to be evacuated amid flooding concerns.

By 2.30pm, Angus Council had confirmed it had identified 370 homes to evacuate as water levels passed 0.5 metres.

Less than an hour later further homes in Tannadice and Finavon were included in evacuation plans.

By 4pm, Storm Babet pushed water levels past one metre.

And in just four hours, it climbed to two metres.

But the worst was yet to come when the river inundated the gauge allowing for no further measurements in the early hours of the morning.

The river breached Brechin defences around 4am with Angus Council confirming river levels reached 4.4m above normal levels.

Sepa lists 3.52 metres as being the highest level on record for the station after the height was reached in November of last year.

The scale of the flooding was made apparent in drone footage taken on Friday morning.

Emergency crews spent the morning evacuating dozens of Brechin residents from their flooded homes.

Areas outside of Angus have also seen severe flooding, such as Invergowrie where some residents had to be rescued.

The nearby MyInefield measuring station showed that rainfall picked up in the early hours of the night.

But Storm Babet is not finished yet with the Met Office announcing a further red warning for Saturday.

Further weather warnings for Saturday

The fresh red warning once again covers the Angus towns of Brechin, Forfar, Kirriemuir and Montrose – and last the whole of Saturday.

However, forecasters warn that Aberdeenshire and Grampian will also face the worst of poor weather.

Rainfall reaching between 70mm to 100 mm is expected over a period of 18 to 24 hours, with the highest accumulations over the hills.

The warning reads: “The heaviest rainfall is most likely to occur over upland parts of Angus, Aberdeenshire and Grampian, although even lower-lying areas will see some heavy rain.

“These areas overlap those most affected by the prolonged rain on Thursday and early Friday, thus likely to prolong or renew impacts.”