Storm Babet: floods, disrupted transport and power cuts in Northern Europe

Storm Babet continued to cause flooding and material damage on Saturday in the United Kingdom, notably disrupting rail traffic, after sweeping regions of Denmark, Norway and Germany during the night from Friday to Saturday.

It began to hit Scotland on Friday, causing the death of three people, including two in the north-east of the country, where the red alert was lifted at the end of the day on Saturday. “Parts of Scotland are still experiencing severe flooding, and some rivers remain at dangerous levels,” the Scottish government said in a statement, with rain levels described as “exceptional”. “The weather conditions are improving, but they remain extremely difficult, particularly in the most affected areas of Tayside”, in the east of the country, said Deputy Chief of Police Scotland Stuart Houston.

More than 300 flood alerts have been issued by the Environment Agency across England since Thursday, the majority in Yorkshire (north) and the Midlands (central). Three alerts for “serious flooding”, “which generate a significant risk to the life” of nearby residents, were notably issued on the banks of the River Derwent in Derby in the center, she indicated on her site.

According to one of its officials, Katharine Smith, “continued flooding is likely on some major rivers, notably the Severn, the Ouse and the Trent until Tuesday”, in the north and center.

Interviewed on BBC One, Labor MP Toby Perkins said around 400 homes in his constituency of Chesterfield in central England had been flooded and many people now have "no idea where where they will be able to live.

In London, King's Cross station had to close its doors for a few hours on Saturday afternoon to limit the influx of travelers, massed in the hall and on the platforms following the cancellation or delays of numerous trains.

As reported on Scotland from London, are still “severely disrupted”.

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The storm also hit the coasts of northern Germany on Friday evening, raging all night, and causing the death of a woman killed in her car by a falling tree, firefighters said. Strong winds and rain caused water levels to rise, causing flooding and the evacuation of around 2,000 people, according to the emergency services of the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

The highest water levels were recorded around midnight on Friday: in Flensburg (north), it reached almost 2.30 meters above normal - a value not seen for almost 120 years. The situation was improving on Saturday.

In Denmark, storm Babet triggered a sharp rise in water levels in towns in the south of the country, flooding the ground floors of homes without electricity for several hours.

Water levels rose more than two meters above normal in towns like Aabenraa, Haderslev, Sønderborg, Hesnæs, Fynshav, Fåborg and Assensson, levels which are normally only reached once every 100 years, according to the DMI weather service.

“We have to evacuate large quantities of water from cities, especially in southern Jutland,” said Martin Vendelbo of the Danish Emergency Management Agency at the Ritzau agency. In the fishing port of Rødvig (Zealand province), several fishing boats ran aground or were on the verge of sinking, according to photos from Danish media.