Body of woman, 57, pulled from river after red weather warning

Police have pulled the body of a 57-year-old woman from a river in flood-hit Angus after weather forecasters issued a red warning for the region.

Storm Babet has hit the area particularly hard, buffeting the burgh with a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours and near hurricane-force 80mph winds.

The deadly combination has led council leaders to issue an evacuation notice, with the Met Office having warned that fast flowing or deep floodwater constitutes a “danger to life”.

Local authorities have now recovered a body from an Angus waterway after they were “swept away”.

Police Scotland confirmed officers received a call to the Water of Lee, Glen Esk, earlier this afternoon, with the body of a woman found more than two hours later.

Confirming the incident, a spokesman for the police service said the body of a 57-year-old woman was found at 4pm this afternoon.

They said: “At around 1.45pm on Thursday, October 19, 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.”

Angus and much of the surrounding area is currently captured within a rare red weather warning issued by the Met Office earlier this week.

The agency issued the warning on Wednesday, October 18, and it came into effect at 6pm today.

The advisory and covers a small section of eastern Scotland, encompassing small towns Brechin, Forfar and Kirriemuir, where “severe flooding” is possible until 12pm on Friday, October 20.