PRETTY VILLAGE SHOCKED TO ITS CORE
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LUCY COCKCROFT AND REBECCA SHORT
11:00 - 17 August 2004
The scene could be from a Third World disaster zone. Roads were turned to rivers, upturned cars lay stacked on top of each other, the air filled with the drone of helicopter blades.THE scene could be from a Third World disaster zone. Roads were turned to rivers, upturned cars lay stacked on top of each other, the air filled with the drone of helicopter blades.
The pretty North Cornwall village of Boscastle has been shocked to its core. People stood, head in hands, stunned to silence, surveying the damage. In just the course of a few short hours a village was torn apart and as the light faded last night fears grew for friends and relatives still unaccounted for.
The sheer force of the deluge turned the tarmac into a concertina on Fore Street, the main road that leads down to the harbour, and sent granite boulders rolling down the hill. Trees were snapped like matchsticks, and entire buildings simply crumbled under the immense power of the water. Most homes lost electricity and gas, and front rooms were turned into muddy bogs.
But rather than batten down the hatches, the community threw open its doors.
Towels, umbrellas and brandy were duly dispatched as villagers swapped their stories, trying to assess the cost of the disaster. In the few homes where telephones lines were still working, calls poured in from all over the country and even Spain. People queued to contact loved ones desperate to confirm they were well.
Ron Muffett, owner of the Old Manor House restaurant on main road leading to harbour, said: "It's really bad, all the cars from the car park were lifted up by the floods and taken along in the deluge. It has knocked the walls of my restaurant out, this is a major disaster. We haven't seen anything like it since back in the 1930s."
Dave Fletcher, who lives in Myrtle Cottage Guest House in Fore Street, said: "The water gushed in, bursting our doors open. It was like a river in here. The water literally went right through the house, bringing mud and stones with it. It will be a miracle if there are no fatalities. This is going to take a long time to clear up, it's caused thousands of pounds of damage."
Mike Metcalfe, a Fore Street resident who has lived in Boscastle for 18 years, said: "The power of the flood was awesome. A camper van took the footbridge away and all the cars flowed past it to the sea. My son in law's farm which is in Lesnewth has totally gone."
Several buildings down by Boscastle harbour were torn down by the force of the torrent. The front walls of Clovelly Clothing were washed away. Harbourlights Cottage, the ex-pixie shop and one of the oldest properties in the village, was also destroyed.
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