Major clean-up after flood hits Cornwall coastal village
Residents describe "ginormous hailstones" and "torrents of water" - with an elderly couple winched to safety by the coastguard.
Monday 17 August 2020 12:28, UK
Two people have been rescued by helicopter after heavy thunderstorms led to "major flooding" in a coastal village in Cornwall.
Witnesses described seeing a "tsunami in reverse" as a flash flood hit Coverack, severely damaging roads and affecting around 50 homes.
Residents said the storm washed sheds out of gardens and sent hailstones the size of 50 pence pieces smashing into windows.
Elsewhere, a yellow weather warning is in place through the day for large swathes of England and Wales, with the Met Office predicting a month's worth of rain could fall in some places in a matter of hours.
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Zoe Holmes, who manages the Bay Hotel in Coverack, told Sky News the storm was "very extraordinary".
She said: "We started off with ginormous hailstones and then the heavens opened and, just, floods of water everywhere.
"It was almost like a tsunami in reverse. Just torrents of water coming down the hill and pouring over the sea wall."
Ms Holmes added: "We have a house in the village and that was up to above knee height. You can see other houses that are just devastated with water pouring out of the windows.
"It really felt like something out of a film."
Just outside the village, the flash flood sent boulders crashing into a bus as it travelled down a steep hill.
Driver Thomas Duffield and a young passenger had to be rescued from the vehicle after their route was blocked off by abandoned cars.
Mr Duffield said: "I felt a little bit uneasy about taking my foot off the (brake) pedal, because it was like we were in the water rapids.
"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.
"I thought that one large impact, at the wrong moment, could send the bus even further down the hill."
A local business owner, who did not want to be named, said the conditions were "quite horrendous".
"It was torrential," she added. "Our neighbours across the road from us, their shed disappeared down the river.
"Our neighbours, just up the road from us, their oil tank disappeared down the river.
"I have never seen such big hails. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing and it was hailing, all at the same time."
Meanwhile, fireman Dale Reardon described the storm as "unbelievable".
He said: "It has affected a lot of people's homes and it could have been a lot worse.
"I don't know how long it will take for them to get their homes back to how they were."
Cornwall Council said a multi-agency emergency centre had been opened at County Hall, Truro.
It said a number of properties and one of the roads into Coverack had suffered structural damage.
Structural engineers are due to inspect them.