HAVING battled against the onrushing floodwater early last week business-owners in Fowey and Lostwithiel were given a slight reprieve after the expected "worse to come" scenario failed to materialise.
A number of businesspeople had begun Wednesday counting the cost after a combination of high tides and gale-force winds damaged premises and stock.
Salvaging goods and the arduous task of pumping premises free of water that in some cases had been waist-deep was all that was on the agenda for many.
As everyone battened down the hatches and braced for two more nights of ever-worsening weather, however, traders and residents finally caught a break.
Although the water once again invaded Fowey's high street and threatened a repeat of the previous night's damage, the eventual outcome was considerably less fraught with tension, worry and sandbags.
The only thing washing over Fowey and Lostwithiel for the next two nights was relief as the winds slowly died and the waters fell.
An employee at Brown Sugar Café in Fowey, hit hard by the original flood, said: "The next couple of days we opened a little bit late as there was still water to pump out, but other than that it was fine."
