Flooding disruption and travel chaos continues after severe weather warning across Aberdeenshire

The impact of severe weather is continuing to cause disruption across the east coast of Scotland.

Around one month’s worth of rainfall battered much of Scotland’s east coast over 36 hours with warnings for severe flooding issued to multiple areas.

The torrential rain caused road and rail disruption, school closures and support centres to be set up for those forced from their homes.

Searches for a woman swept into the River Don in Aberdeenshire were temporarily stood down by police and coastguards after the river conditions were assessed.

Emergency services were called to the river in Inverurie around 3.20pm on Friday after reports of someone getting into difficulty in the water.

There was severe flooding in the area. STV News

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Around 3.05pm on Friday, November 18, police were called to the River Don near to Monymusk following a report of concern for a woman in the water.

“Police and emergency services attended and searches were carried out.

“Following assessments of the river conditions, the search has been stood down for the evening.

“Police enquiries are ongoing.”

It is likely the high water levels will remain until Saturday afternoon.

The Scottish Government say resilience arrangements have been activated and are working with local councils to respond to the damage.

Rail services were suspended with ScotRail stating trains are unlikely to begin again before 12pm.

In a statement on Saturday morning ScotRail said: “Due to yesterday’s extreme rainfall, services on the Fife Circle & between Aberdeen & Dundee are unlikely to start before noon today while @NetworkRailSCOT can assess the railway in daylight.”

Power cuts also affected areas including Inverurie, Kintore, Stonehaven, Portlethen and Hatton of Fintray, as the Met Office said over a month’s rain had fallen in Charr in Aberdeenshire, with the total recorded as 140 millimetres.

In some parts of Edinburgh there was also localised flooding with the Crewe Toll roundabout in the west of the city submerged in water.

On Friday evening, justice secretary and lead minister for resilience, Keith Brown, chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government’s resilience committee.

He said: “The Scottish Government’s resilience arrangements have been activated to ensure preparations and appropriate measures are in place, and we will continue to monitor the situation over the course of the weekend.

“We are in close contact with resilience partners, local authorities and the emergency services to ensure people in the affected areas receive the latest information, advice and support where needed.”