The clean-up begins at flood-hit homes across north Cornwall

While Boscastle has dominated the headlines, people in Canworthy Water, between Bude and Launceston, also had flash floods to deal with.

Several homes were damaged by waist-high water and people have lost tens of thousands of pounds-worth of possessions and furnishings.

Residents commended a community spirit with neighbours helping each other.

The area is just flattened, crushed. It now looks like the surface of the moon Caroline Pallet

Three rivers meets at Canworthy Water. The largest of these, the River Ottery, burst its banks, causing large amounts of water to flood through properties clustered around the hamlet's old stone bridge.

Some residents had to be airlifted from roofs of houses.

Caroline Pallet, along with her husband, children and elderly mother, was rescued by farming neighbours who used a tractor to drive them to safety.

She said: "We used to have really pleasant and nice surroundings and we'd a beautiful pond which used to have fish in it.

"But now the area is just flattened, crushed. It now looks like the surface of the moon.

"It happened within seconds, really. It was like a tidal wave swept across the fields.

"Within a minute it went from the floor up to waist level."

Agricultural supplier Roger Jones encountered water sweeping through the first floor of his home and deluging his office, destroying thousands of pounds of computers and office equipment.

In his barns, large amounts of stock were damaged too.

Shared response

He said: "We're having to replace computer systems, telephone systems; and four vehicles and a caravan have had to be scrapped.

"We're just taking every day as it comes and the neighbours have been very helpful."

Further up the coast, Bude and nearby Helebridge were also badly hit.

One resident was forced to smash through their roof to get to safety, canal boats were swept out to sea, and others are buried underneath sand and silt.

The Mayor of Bude, Ann Davies, said all the boats had been recovered through the use of diggers, though some houses would be uninhabitable for up to six months.

She said: "I don't think this will ever be forgotten."