Destructive floods bring death and misery on long night of rain

Flooding has once again hit the Westcountry bringing death, destruction and misery to a region which has barely dried out after the last deluge.

Swollen rivers burst their banks causing landslides which in one case cost the life of a woman in South East Cornwall.

In the north of the county, a woman was declared dead at the scene of a collision at Kilkhampton.

In Newlyn, West Cornwall, residents were yesterday again sluicing out their homes and businesses as water washed down into the village.

Josh Sim, who owns the Forty-Five Degrees North with his partner Kate Dyer, was only recently able to reopen the gallery flooded in November.

He said that he was able to rescue all of the artworks this time round, but the situation had almost made him want to throw in the towel.

"It's heartbreaking," he said.

"After all the hard work and all the effort we put in to have something like this happen again knocks the wind out of your sails."

Mr Sim said that they had received the flood warning in time to get merchandise and furniture off the floor and out of harm's way.

However, he said that the water had washed into the gallery and ruined the floor meaning it was unlikely he would be able to reopen for several weeks.

"This will have a big impact on us because it is over Easter," he said. "When it happened I did feel like shutting the doors and not bothering any more."

Norman and Janette Hoblyn, who live in a cottage next to the Newlyn Coombe River, which burst its banks, said they feared the raging torrent would again engulf their home.

"High tide was at midnight (Thursday) and we were prepared. It wasn't quite as dramatic as last time, but it was very worrying."

The terrible weather continued to batter the Westcountry yesterday – 20 years to the day since four students from Southway Community College in Plymouth drowned on a kayaking trip in Lyme Bay. The anniversary of the tragedy was marked with four bouquets of flowers left outside the lifeboat station in Lyme Regis.

A dozen flood warnings remained in place across the region, mainly concentrated on Devon.

The atrocious conditions brought chaos to the roads causing flooding to major and minor roads, closures through landslips and terrible driving conditions.

Devon bore the brunt of the weather yesterday with the South Hams, Ivybridge, Newton Abbot, Bovey Tracey, Exton and parts of East Devon worst affected after about 50mm (2 in) of rain fell in 24 hours.

The 136-year-old Jubilee Bridge in Modbury collapsed on Thursday night amid the deluge. The bridge had been closed as a precautionary measure last month after engineers found significant structural damage caused by flooding

Ashburton Primary School was closed after part of the road outside collapsed.

Engineers were yesterday assessing the damage and the impact on the school.

A spokesman for Devon County Council said: "We cannot inspect the culvert at Ashburton until water levels have gone down,"

Earlier in the morning a three-metre section of wall at Third Avenue in Teignmouth collapsed.

The heavy rainfall caught many drivers out and in Sidmouth, just before 6am, the owner of a Porsche had to be rescued with ladders after its driver successfully negotiated the rising River Sid, but then became trapped by the closed flood barrier on the other side.

Half an hour later, two fire engines were sent to Teigngrace, Newton Abbot, to rescue another driver trapped by floodwater.

At 9.15pm the previous night, crews rescued a driver who had become stuck in their car at Wembury Road, Plymstock.

Overnight fire crews said they dealt with numerous calls from residents whose homes had been inundated by the floodwater.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council cabinet member for highways and transportation, said the weather had inflicted a lot of damage.

"Our highways teams are working hard to deal with a number of incidents – flooding, landslips, fallen trees, and blocked roads, so do expect the possibility of delays but we are trying to minimise disruption as much as possible," he said.