Brechin residents rescued by boat as plea issued to help 40 stranded locals wearing ‘soaked clothes’

Dozens of Brechin residents have been rescued by boat after flooding hit hundreds of homes.

The River South Esk burst its banks overnight after extreme rainfall caused by Storm Babet.

People living in more than 300 homes had been urged to leave their properties.

But some chose to remain as the water rose.

On Friday morning, emergency crews used boats to ferry dozens people from their flooded homes to safety.

‘Urgent plea’ for warm clothing donations after Brechin flood rescues

It comes as a plea has been issued to help about 40 “soaked” residents sheltering in the town’s community campus.

A statement from Angus Council said: “We have issued an urgent appeal for help at our Brechin rest centre for warm clothing.

“If anyone lives near the Brechin Community Campus that is able to get to the rest centre without putting themselves at risk, we are looking for donations of all types of warm clothing for adults.

“We now have in excess of 40 adults who have arrived at the rest centre with only the soaked clothes they have arrived in.”

Brechin councillor Gavin Nicol fears that the worst of the impact of Storm Babet is yet to come.

He said: “The flood walls are 3.8m high and they were breached at about 4am this morning.

“Sepa’s warning is saying that we’re going to get it up to 5m deep.

Brechin flooding ‘going to get worse’

“We’ve got it bad just now but it’s get worse.

“We’ve just passed the high tide mark just now and it’ll come back later in the afternoon.

“The water takes a while to come off the hills and we’re not out of the problems yet.”

Mr Nicol says residents were forced to move furniture to higher levels due to the weather.

He said: “The worst scenario we have had before is a couple of inches of water off the floor level.

“It’s now at window sill level and people didn’t know it would get as bad as that.

“It’s not their fault that they wanted to stay but it’s come to a point now where they’ve had to be rescued.”

The councillor added: “The properties won’t be habitable for the near future.

“It’s a mixture of private owners and council housing so it’ll have to be insurance jobs and council repairs.

“The campus was just used as a way to get everyone moved if there was a disaster, which it has been. It’s not for the long term.

“People will have to move with family or friends. It’s going to be an extended period of repair and it’s something that the chief executives will have to sit down and work out a plan on what to do.

“We can’t walk away from it.”