Village hit by a month’s rain in only two hours
‘Mud, slime and rubbish’
A VILLAGE in Cornwall was deluged by more than a month’s rain in only two hours – causing flooding to hit 50 properties.
There was 4in of rain in Coverack, on the Lizard Peninsula, between 3pm and 5pm on Tuesday, according to the Environment Agency.
Dozens of homes were said to have been left uninhabitable while rubble blocked roads and five villagers had to be airlifted to safety.
Downpours swept the South, with almost 2in of rain in Otterbourne, Hampshire, yesterday, while Reading University recorded the third-wettest 24 hours in more than a century.
In North Wales, Prestatyn High School was flooded, while lightning strikes sparked a house fire in Tilehurst, Berkshire, and hit the prestigious Reading Blue Coat School in nearby Sonning.
More than 60 emergency calls were made in the space of an hour in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, from 2.30am yesterday, with families trapped in their homes by floodwater up to 4ft deep.
In Coverack, Rosemary Keane, 87, had to climb out of her bathroom window. She said: ‘I really was terrified to be trapped in the flat. My son took the window out and a friend got behind me and my son was in front. One was pushing and the other was pulling.’
School bus driver Thomas Duffield said huge boulders were sent crashing into his vehicle. The 33-year-old father of two was stranded amid surging water with one boy still on his bus, as abandoned cars blocked the way.
He said: ‘The boulders from people’s gardens were pummelling the bus. They were about the size of a wheel and kept whacking the vehicle, making loud bangs, which was obviously quite worrying. In the end the emergency services cut a hole in a hedge in a property next to the bus and got us both out.’
Zoe Holmes, who runs the Bay Hotel in Coverack, which had a number of rooms damaged, said her guests helped bale out water.
She said: ‘It was just a shock, the sheer volume of water that fell in probably three hours has just left devastation.’ Marshall Dagger’s shop on the village’s waterfront was among the 50 properties affected. He said: ‘The counter, the units, everything is pushed over and all the mud, slime and rubbish is inside, so we’re just going to try to start ripping units out and rebuild.’
The flash-flooding was the worst to hit Cornwall during the summer since the Boscastle disaster in 2004, when 440million gallons of water swept through the town.
The cost of repairs in Coverack is already estimated to top £1million, with structural damage to roads and buildings.
Fireman Dale Reardon, 54, who helped villagers, said: ‘It was horrendous – just such a large amount of water in such a short time.’
He likened the flood to Boscastle, saying: ‘That was a beautiful, ordinary summer’s day and then all hell breaks loose. [Tuesday] was similar. It was unbelievable.’
Nicola Maxey, of the Met Office, said the amount of rain that hit Coverack was ‘quite exceptional’, adding: ‘Only the edge of the storm hit land. The main part of the rain fell out at sea.’
Today was set to be brighter with some showers, while tomorrow will have longer spells of rain. And the wet weather is set to continue over the weekend.