 Several buildings were damaged on 16 August 2004 |
No one could ever have imagined just how much devastation three inches of rainwater could cause, but that soon became all to apparent to the residents of Cornish village Boscastle. On a summer's day last August, it took just two hours of rain for parts of the coastal village to be simply washed into the sea.
Today, the Environment Agency makes public its findings on what caused the flood and whether it could happen again.
Breakfast was live in Boscastle throughout Wednesday's programme
Jon Kay talked to Boscastle shop owner Debbie Beszant, and Keith Groves, Head of Forecast Production for the Met Office Debbie Beszant said she would like to hear that planning permission is being granted for her to rebuild her shop. She also told us how the public have been so supportive of their plight.
Keith Groves said the flooding in Boscastle was quite exceptional: "it is the type that only happens once in several hundred years."
The Environment Agency is keen to stress that today's findings are not an official report.
It will issue a press release just after 1030 today, and villagers will get the opportunity to attend two public meetings at 1600 and 1900.
Concerns
With large parts of the UK today affected by stormy weather, there's a growing need for homeowners and businesses to be prepared for sudden changes to conditions.
And there's the bigger question of whether freak weather is becoming more commonplace because of global warming, which raises the question of how we manage the effects of bad weather in the long term.
You can get more information from North Cornwall District Council and the Environment Agency via the links to the right of this page
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click here to watch Debbie Beszant 
