Flood-hit communities across the north-east have begun a major clean-up operation as they count the cost of Storm Frank.
Ballater, Braemar, Aboyne and Aberdeen’s Garthdee area were hardest hit by the weather, with the River Dee bursting its banks and causing devastation to homes and businesses.
Homes have gutted, caravans lay crumpled on top of each other and battered cars have been abandoned, creating scenes described by one local councillor as “like a war zone”.
Princes Charles made an impromptu visit to Ballater on Hogmanay, touring the village to see for himself the devastation and offering words of comfort to those hardest hit.
The royal made the unannounced visit on his way to nearby Birkhall, where he and wife Camilla spend New Year, – and even offered the services of his chefs to help prepare food for those left homeless.
Among the businesses worst affected is the Queen’s official butcher, HM Sheridans, which lost about £40,000 of meat in the floods.
Director John Sinclair had popped out when the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay arrived, and was surprised when he walked back in to find them there.
The 50-year-old said: “As soon as I came in the door Camilla came across and said, ‘I’m so sorry John, to hear to your tragedies’ and ‘it must have been terrible’.
“I told them the story of how the water had risen from 9.30am until the time we left at 10.30am. The prince couldn’t believe it himself.
“I asked how Birkhall was. He said Birkhall was OK although the garden was devastated, but that was the least of his worries.”
Mr Sinclair, whose business was granted the Royal Warrant by the Queen and Prince Charles in 1987, added: “Charles was just concerned about the whole village basically. He was devasted, he couldn’t believe it.
“He had a walk up the road and visited a few of the residents in the houses. He is part of the village anyway.”
Deputy First Minister John Swinney also visited the village, and visited the pensioners who spent the night at Victoria Barracks after being evacuated from their homes and left without power.
“We must remain focused on looking at what can be done to take as many steps as possible to avoid such situations happening again,” he said.
“What’s striking about listening to people in Ballater this morning is the speed and the ferocity with which this happened.”
He said discussions had been held prior to the storm hitting, and that the Scottish Government would continue to work local resilience partnerships.
“The difficulty you have is the volume of water and the scale of that incident and it’s difficult to mitigate volumes of water of that magnitude,” Mr Swinney said.
The Bellwin Scheme has now been launched to give emergency cash to local councils to help with flood damage, although it is not yet clear if Aberdeenshire Council will apply for assistance or how much.
Local councillor Geva Blackett said the tourist town was “like a warzone”, but added: “This is a resilient community, both here and in Braemar. People are pulling together but the devastation… I’m lost for words.”
Fire engines and diggers were helping to clear away the debris and business owners were sweeping out the silt and dirt sodden interiors after their shops had been left in tatters.
There were similar scenes in Aberdeen, where emergency services had been forced to shut several busy routes late on Wednesday night but worked round the clock to minimise delays.
Police closed the Bridge of Dee as the water had started to rise dangerously high on either side of the structure, and closures were also in place on Victoria Road, Riverside Drive and Inchgarth Road. They were reopened again early on Thursday.
Aberdeen lifeboat and coastguard teams resumed their search of the Dee for a missing car which had been washed away the night before.
It had been initially unclear whether someone was in the vehicle but police later confirmed it had been unoccupied when it was swept away. The search was later scaled down.