A woman’s body has been recovered from a river in Angus after the area was hit with a rare red weather warning due to Storm Babet.
Police found the the 57-year-old’s body in the Water of Lee in Glen Esk at around 4pm on Thursday after reports came in just before 2pm.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 1.45pm on Thursday, 19 October, 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.”
First Minister Humza Yousaf said his thoughts are with the family of the woman who died.
“Such sad news,” he said on social media. “My thoughts are with the family, friends and loved ones of the woman who has sadly lost her life.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar described it as “heartbreaking news”.
He added: “My thoughts are with the family, our emergency services and all those affected by the flooding.”
It comes as thousands of people were left without power as they face flooding from “unprecedented” amounts of rain in the east of the country.
The Met Office has extended the red weather warning to a wider area of Scotland with the alert coming into effect at 6pm on Thursday and is expected to be in place for around 18 hours.
The weather agency also warned that Storm Babet is set to spread into northern and eastern England on Friday.
Severe flooding and “danger to life” conditions are expected with multiple alerts in place across Scotland.
A red warning is issued only when dangerous weather is forecast and it is “very likely there will be a risk to life”.
The alert covers the north east, including parts of Angus, Aberdeenshire and Tayside.
Deputy first minister Shona Robison warned the worst impacts of the storm are yet to come.
Speaking after a meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room, she said officials were co-ordinating a national effort to help those impacted by severe flooding.
She said: “The red warning has been expanded to cover further parts of Scotland and we expect weather conditions to deteriorate seriously overnight.
“Our message is clear – if you live in the areas covered by the red warning, please stay at home and do not travel, unless advised to relocate to a rest centre.
“With weather warnings in place for much of the country, I would urge everyone to be vigilant and to exercise extreme caution. No matter where you live, please make sure you stay up to date with conditions affecting your area.
“If you need to travel in a yellow warning area then make sure you can travel safely and that roads and services are not impacted.
“We are working with partners across the country, including emergency services, the voluntary sector and energy companies, to make sure that we mitigate disruption as much as possible.
“However, we are clear that there will be considerable disruption and we expect to launch a major clean-up operation as we move into the weekend.”
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