Bert Graham saw his son's car swept away in the flood.

The Grahams, from Benfleet, were visiting Boscastle on Monday when a wall of water swept through the village, taking 100 cars with it.

Alan and Melanie Graham and their three children had to be airlifted from the village visitors' centre after waiting on the roof for 45 minutes.

They had to climb on the roof through a rooflight when the centre was damaged.

Mr Graham said the sight of the helicopter which arrived to winch them to safety had been very welcome.

The Grahams had to be airlifted from a rooftop in the village

"Something had obviously hit the visitor centre and demolished half of it and at that point we realised it was no longer safe to stay in the building so we had to evacuate the centre through a rooflight.

"We were on the roof of the building and had been there for about three-quarters of an hour before we were finally winched off the roof in the rain which was coming down heavily by that time."

Back in Essex Mr Graham's parents, who also live in Benfleet, anxiously waited for news of the family.

"We were concerned. It wasn't until later on that we realised they had been rescued and had been in real danger," Mr Graham's father, Bert, said.

He said had the family returned to their car to wait for the rain to subside, they would have been washed away.