Cornwall floods: Two people airlifted to safety as flash flooding wreaks havoc in Coverack village

Jonathan Mitchell19 July 2017

Two people have been airlifted to safety and several others rescued from their homes after flash flooding devastated a village in Cornwall.

Firefighters have advised residents to avoid the village of Coverack, which was hit by flash floods on Tuesday afternoon.

An elderly lady was reportedly rescued from a window when floods hit the village, while two people were rescued from their home by a helicopter crew.

Cornwall Council has since confirmed that everyone has been rescued from the village and there were no casualties.

Dramatic footage has emerged on social media of water sweeping through the village.

Water sweeping through the village
Lizard Hol Cottages (Twitter)

Bed and Breakfast owner Dick Powell told ITV News he saw the coastguard helicopter helping to rescue people from their homes.

Two people were rescued by the helicopter, which is based in Newquay, a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency confirmed.

She said: "Six people were in a house and two have been rescued from the house by helicopter."

She said there were no injuries, but had no further details on the rescue.

The main road into the village is also believed to have been completely destroyed by the water.

The flooding began after a huge thunderstorm hit the south coast, with Plymouth and Devon also hit by torrential rain.

"There has been some heavy rainfall around," said Met Office forecaster Craig Snell, who said the worst has moved north from the region.

Coverack after floods hit on Tuesday afternoon
PA

An eyewitness said the wet weather hit Coverack at about lunchtime, but got worse from around 3pm.

"It literally just came over like a massive mist," Karla Wainwright told BBC News.

Ms Wainwright, who works in the village's Paris Hotel, said hailstones the size of 50p pieces smashed small panes of glass on the building.

But she added: "It wasn't until it cleared up at 4.30pm, and we could see over the other side of Coverack, and we could see the stream coming down the main road and going just straight off over the wall into the sea, that we realised how bad it had been and how much water and rain had come down."

Cornwall Fire and Rescue posted on Twitter: "Major flooding in Coverack area please avoid this area & do not attempt to drive through any flood water."

The Environment Agency has issued alerts for possible flooding in south Wales and southern England.

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