A massive clean-up is under way in the flood-ravaged village

Rod Smith, from Staffordshire, said: "A wall of water swept down the valley."

Reverend Christine Musser told BBC Breakfast: "All of a sudden we found ourselves in the middle of a disaster."

Assistant Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, Richard Stowe, said that unsafe buildings meant the village was still a "very dangerous place".

Rescue

Alan Graham and his family, from Benfleet, Essex, had been in the village's visitors centre when the floods hit.

Cars were floating down the street. I could see tyres and trees floating past me...I was absolutely petrified Tourist John Upton, 14

"The front door of the visitors centre smashed through and torrents of water came in until, in the end, half the visitors' centre got smashed away," he said.

"We [got] ourselves on to the roof. We were there for about half an hour in freezing cold rain until the helicopter came along and picked us up, one by one.

"There were 60ft trees just going down the river like matchsticks - as soon as one of those hit the front of the visitors centre, it just wiped away all the structure of it."

Fourteen-year-old Georgia Gifkans, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was airlifted from the roof of the bed and breakfast where she was staying with her father, Luke.

"I was in the B&B watching all the water come down, then all these cars started to float past. All the shop windows started smashing," she said.

"The water was coming up to the waist of grown men. It was going so fast it was frightening."

'Petrified'

Up to 60 people were transported from the village to a base set up at the leisure centre in nearby Camelford.

All of a sudden we found ourselves in the middle of a disaster Reverend Christine Musser

John Upton, 14, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was rescued by a human chain after becoming stranded on top of a floating car.

He said: "Cars were floating down the street. I could see tyres and trees floating past me. It was unbelievable. I was absolutely petrified."

Mr Smith, who is from Newcastle-under-Lyme, said: "The river started to rise dramatically and there was an unbelievable roaring sound.

"A wall of water swept down the valley, taking everything with it. I was genuinely terrified."

'Spirit'

Storms on Monday afternoon saw more than 6cm (2ins) of rain fall in two hours, and around 150 people were airlifted to safety in a rescue operation that continued through the night.

It is going to take us many months to put this back together again Assistant Chief Constable Richard Stowe

Some were taken to the village rectory, which is on high ground in Boscastle.

Ms Musser said: "Local people are saying they have never seen anything quite like this.

"It just escalated so quickly. All of a sudden we found ourselves in the middle of a disaster, which nobody I don't think was prepared for at all."

But she added: "There is a very strong spirit in this place.

"They are used to tough times often in this part of the world, so people will rally round very quickly and see what needs to be done and we will get on and do it."

'Lucky'

Assistant Chief Constable Stowe said that there were eight reported casualties, with the worst injury a broken thumb.

"We have been extremely lucky overnight to have so few people injured," he said.

"We have got about 108 people who have been evacuated from the town itself, which has been devastated. It is going to take us many months to put this back together again."

Mr Stowe said that on Tuesday morning rescue teams would search buildings and between 50 and 60 vehicles in the harbour for casualties.