Storm Babet warnings for flood-hit areas of Scotland

People living in parts of Scotland hit by flooding a week ago have been warned to prepare for further incidents due to Storm Babet.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said the storm was expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds from Wednesday evening.

Sepa warned some areas were still saturated by heavy rain that hit earlier this month.

The Met Office has issued a number of weather warnings through to Saturday.

Storm Babet is forecast to start in the south-west before moving across to the north-east on Thursday and into the weekend.

Sepa said the latest warnings were particularly relevant for communities still recovering from flooding experienced on Friday 6 October and Saturday 7 October.

Over that weekend, seven landslides hit the A83 in Argyll and 10 people had to be rescued from their vehicles.

Flooding also affected Aviemore and Perth, and rail and road travel was disrupted.

Sepa said similar areas would likely be affected by Storm Babet, including Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, Tayside, Angus and Aberdeenshire.

Flood duty manager David Morgan said: "Impacts from surface water and rivers are likely, and with catchments saturated from recent heavy rain and flooding, we're urging people to be prepared for potential flooding.

"There is also concern that surface water flooding may be exacerbated by debris blocking drainage."

He said flood alerts and warnings would be issued when required.

The Met Office has issued yellow "be aware" warnings for wind and rain from Wednesday evening until midday on Saturday.

Chief meteorologist Steven Keates said it was likely the warnings would be updated through the week.

He said: "As well as heavy rain, Storm Babet will bring some very strong winds and large waves near some eastern coasts too.

"Gusts in excess of 60mph are possible in eastern and northern Scotland from Thursday."