Rescue workers combed a coastal village in north Cornwall on Tuesday for missing persons after a flash flood sent a wall of water tearing through the picturesque tourist spot the day before.
Dozens of villagers were plucked to safety from rooftops and stranded cars in Boscastle, south-west England, by seven rescue helicopters after a short, sharp burst of rain triggered Monday’s disaster.
”We’re not exactly sure about the number of people missing” but there could be at least 15 unaccounted for, a spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall police said.
”What’s happening is that people are phoning up saying that they can’t get hold of their relatives on holidays in Cornwall,” she said.
About 1 000 residents and holidaymakers were said to be in the area when the flash flood hit, hurling cars into trees, rushing into homes and causing ”staggering” damage.
More than 50 automobiles were swept into the sea at the height of Monday’s torrential rainstorm and a half-dozen buildings collapsed, prompting rescue workers — working in five or six teams — to take no chances.
”We are still trying to locate all the vehicles that were swept away,” police chief superintendent Dave Ellis told Sky News television earlier on Tuesday.
He confirmed that, at dawn on Tuesday, 108 people had been evacuated from the flooding, with eight treated in hospital for conditions ranging from hypothermia to broken bones.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, overseeing the government while Prime Minister Tony Blair is holidaying in Italy, travelled to Boscastle to inspect the damage first-hand.
”The scale of the damage was staggering,” he said.
The disaster — said to be the worst instance of flooding in the region in 50 years — was blamed on torrential rain that beat down on Cornwall on Monday afternoon.
It only amounted to just more than 5cm, but it fell in a particularly concentrated burst, Britain’s Environment Agency said.
In Boscastle, an estimated 1m-high wall of water gushed through the streets of the village, situated in a valley leading to the Saint George’s Channel.
Other parts of north Cornwall were affected, too, including the village of Tintagel, a popular tourist destination due to its reputed status as the birthplace of the famous — if largely legendary — King Arthur.
Georgia Gifkans (14) clutching a cup of coffee and with a shawl round her shoulders, said she was staying with her father at a bed and breakfast in Boscastle when disaster struck.
”I was in the B and B watching all the water come down, then all these cars started to float past,” she told Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency. ”It lasted for about an hour, and the water was coming up to the waist of grown men.”
”It’s chaotic,” said AFP photographer Carl de Souza, describing the scene. ”There are cars mangled in the trees, a lot of emergency services working everywhere … it’s difficult to move around because of the high water.”
”Some of the local people are obviously very shocked,” he added. ”It’s difficult for them to work out what to do. They want to retrieve their things from their homes, but that’s not always possible.” — Sapa-AFP