A woman was evacuated from her home in Brechin just hours after she had moved in as the area was hit with an unprecedented level of flooding over the last two days.

Terri Masson, 33, only moved into her home in the Angus town’s Meikle Mill on Thursday and had not even had a chance to make a cup of tea and unpack her belongings before she was told by the council at about 4.30pm she would have to evacuate.

The mother-of-five asked friends from Montrose to come and collect her from the town and was anxiously waiting outside her property on Friday morning waiting for the all clear to go back in and collect items for her family including her youngest daughter.

“I moved in yesterday and was in not even two hours and got told to evacuate,” she told the PA news agency.

Autumn weather October 20th 2023
River Street in Brechin after the river South Esk broke its banks (Andrew Milligan/PA)

She added: “I hadn’t even unpacked my stuff, nothing.

“I had just started to unpack and they came to the door and they were like, ‘you have to go’. We left about quarter past five.

“I had to get my friends to come and get us. I had to leave all the nappies for my daughter so I’m waiting to get back in. Her pram is still in there too.

“I knew Brechin could flood when the weather is bad but I’ve never been in the middle of something like this.

“It was scary for the kids – we got out as quick as we could.”

Ms Masson said she had not yet met any of her new neighbours so was unaware of what had happened to them and said she and her family would have to remain at her mother’s home in Montrose until she could return to her home.

Asked if she had been given any idea of when she might be able to get back into her property, she said: “They have just said to wait over here. I think someone is making up a plan.”

Tracy Taylor, also from Brechin, has been in a rest centre since 7am on Friday.

She lives in Middleton Park, an area of the town close to the river.

She said: “It is bad down there. We’ve been here since seven o’clock.”

Ms Taylor said there were “a lot” of other people in the rest centre.

When asked if she and her family had decided to leave their home or if they were evacuated, Ms Taylor said “it was a bit of both”, adding they were worried about what will happen to their home.

The Met Office red weather warning began at 6pm on Thursday and has been expanded to include Dundee, Perth and Kinross, as well as Angus and Aberdeenshire, where 20ft high waves were seen crashing in Stonehaven harbour.

Amber warnings for wind and rain have been issued for parts of northern England, the Midlands and northern Wales from noon on Friday to 6am on Saturday.

A yellow warning for Northern Ireland is also in place from 3am on Friday to 9am on Saturday.