This October is set to go down as the wettest ever recorded in many parts of Scotland, with some areas inundated with almost a foot of rain.
A yellow severe weather warning only expired at 3am on Monday following yet another weekend of deluges.
Aberdeenshire council begged motorists not to drive through flooded roads that had been closed for safety reasons, with waves the height of houses washing over sea defences at Cullen harbour, driven by 60mph winds.
Meteorologists have had to rewrite 200-year-old record books after biblical amounts of rain pummelled the east coast on three different occasions this October.
Heavy rainfall events took place on October 6 and 7 and 8, followed by “unprecedented” downpours from October 18 to 21 during the lethal Storm Babet.
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With the rain still falling on Sunday, the storm-hit county of Angus has endured close to a foot of rain since October 1.
The city of Dundee has recorded 241.1mm (9 and a half inches) Aberdeenshire 234mm (nine inches) and flood-hit Angus has suffered 291.8mm (11 and a half inches).
New records have also been established in Fife, which has recorded 187.5mm (more than seven inches), and the current heavy rainfall should result in the east of Scotland generally recording its wettest October ever.
The record, from 2020, is 212.3mm and the current reading is 211.4mm. Perth and Kinross is enduring its third wettest October on record so far, at 253.2mm (10 inches).
The rainfall records broke the previous ones set in 1932 (Aberdeenshire), 1982 (Angus), 1954 (Fife), and 2020 (Dundee). Records began in 1836.
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The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) on Sunday issued a slew of warnings of varying severity for communities up and down the east coast. By the afternoon, it had 11 flood alerts in place, with 18 more serious flood warnings.
Aberdeenshire council used X/Twitter to appeal to motorists to drive carefully after the region was inundated by heavy rain.
“A number of Aberdeenshire roads have significant standing water this morning and some have been closed as a result of localised flooding,” the council wrote. “Please do not drive through heavily flooded sections of the network.”
Some Scotrail routes on the east coast were reduced to a shuttle service and Network Rail Scotland said it was forced to introduce speed restrictions on many lines, including Dundee to Aberdeen, Cupar to Leuchars, Perth to Pitlochry and Muir of Ord to Wick.
Areas of southern England and Wales have been put on alert for Storm Ciaran later this week, when “significant coastal flooding” could be caused by winds gusting to 90mph.
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Guisers can look forward to clear skies emerging on Halloween.
