Storm Babet: Woman dies as body pulled from river in Angus, Police Scotland confirms

A woman has died after being swept into a river in Angus where a red weather alert is currently in place. Police Scotland said her body was recovered around 4pm following a report of a person having been swept into the Water of Lee, Glen Esk.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 1.45pm on Thursday October 19, officers attended a report of a person having been swept into the Water of Lee, Glen Esk. Around 4pm, the body of a 57-year-old woman was recovered from the river. 

“There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.”

Storm Babet, a complex area of low pressure which developed to the west of the Iberian Peninsula, was named by the Met Office on Monday morning. The Met Office subsequently issued a rare red weather alert for parts of the country, warning of a “risk to life”.

The storm could bring up to 220mm of rain in some areas of eastern Scotland, an amount close to the highest ever 24-hour total for a “rainfall day”, Met Office figures show.

Some 238mm of rain was measured at Sloy Main Adit in Argyll & Bute between 9am on January 17 1974 and 9am the following day.

The storm is expected to rage overnight and into the weekend, with amber warnings for wind and rain issued for parts of northern England, the Midlands and northern Wales from noon on Friday to 6am on Saturday.