Mawgan Porth clean up under way after shops and hall flooded

Residents are clearing up after flooding damaged shops and a village hall in Cornwall.

On Monday night, torrential downpours caused the River Menalhyl to flood businesses and the hall in Mawgan Porth.

Sandi Purdy who works at Cornish Fresh, said on Tuesday staff had to remove appliances, including freezers, which had been "thrown over" by the water.

She said: "I've been here over 10 years and never seen it that bad, ever."

Ms Purdy said: "I think we got it the worst, everything on the two lower shelves in the shop was gone. It's catastrophic."

She said: "It's a real shame... we'll save as much as we can, it's just such a big loss.

"Everything the water's touched has to come out, that's a lot of stock."

Nick Bennet, from the Merrymore Inn, said he had "never seen the river running so fast".

"I've only seen it flood like this twice in my lifetime.

"The noise of the water and shingle coming under the road bridge here last night was astonishing."

Mr Bennet said he went outside to look at the damage at about 22:00 GMT.

The village hall, he said, had "lost its floor" and other businesses had also been flooded.

"Unfortunately flooding does happen, I just hope everyone makes a recovery because Good Friday is just three days away.

"People need to recover and get their businesses back open."

He said the village businesses were "well supported" by local people but that holidaymakers were important to their success too.

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