Three dead as Scotland hit by severe flooding

EDINBURGH: Three people died and emergency services battled to rescue families trapped by flood waters in Scotland on Friday as Storm Babet moved east, forcing the cancellation of flights and ferries in Scandinavia.

At Leeds Bradford airport in northern England a passenger plane skidded off the runway as it tried to land in strong winds. Images from the scene showed the Boeing 737-800, a flight from Corfu, stranded on the grass besides the tarmac although there were no reports of any injuries.

The UK´s Met Office issued a rare red severe weather warning for parts of eastern Scotland with “exceptional rainfall” of up to 22 centimetres forecast for Friday and Saturday. Police said the body of a 57-year-oldwoman had been recovered after she was swept into a river in the county of Angus, northeast Scotland, on Thursday afternoon. A second person also died in Angus on Thursday evening after a falling tree hit the van the 56-year-old was driving.

A man in his sixties also died Friday after getting caught in fast-flowing water in the central English county of Shropshire. Rescue operations were underway in the worst-hit town of Brechin, northeast Scotland, after hundreds of homes were cut off by flood water.

As the storm pummelled Scotland Friday, Scottish leader Humza Yousaf warned that he could not “stress how dangerous” conditions were, particularly in Brechin. Emergency services were working to reach trapped residents but were being hampered by strong currents and flooding of up to six feet (nearly two metres). “It´s just absolutely horrendous. I´ve never seen anything like it,” said local councillor Jill Scott, adding that hundreds of homes had been flooded.