Recollection of flood by Debbie and Harry Hicks, Trampers, North Corner, Coverack
18 July 2017
The rain started late lunchtime. This was followed by huge hailstones the size of golf balls. The noise on the conservatory roof was very loud. The first thing we noticed that was odd was that the double decker bus on the road outside hadn’t moved for ages. We didn’t realise at the time but the torrent of water coming down the road had dislodged the stones in our wall causing them to fall onto the road. The bus had then run over the stones causing it to stop. This was followed by a huge surge of water hitting our garage at force and veering off towards our neighbour’s house (Joan Kearsley). Water was pouring down the side steps – it came to within 1” of our front door it was so deep.
Realising the severity of the situation we called 191. Although it wasn’t an emergency i.e. lives at risk, we needed help to pump out the water. Obviously at the time we didn’t realise so many calls were being made to all the emergency services as people’s homes were being affected by the deluge of water. CORMAC responded very quickly as did the Coastguards, Police etc. The Coastguards asked if they could use our garden to get the bus driver and a young boy out of the bus and they cut a hole in the hedge for access. Because we are on the corner, the garden became a means of getting people trapped on the bottom road out. ITV, BBC and Sky also used the garden from which to report their stories. They were there for most of the evening. We provided tea and coffee all night, until we ran out of milk!
Fortunately, our house was OK unlike our neighbour’s. The garage got wet but the car, which was in the garage, was fine. The garden took a battering, but is recovering now. One strange thing that happened was a few days after the flood, we noticed a strange mound developing in the lawn. It slowly grew until it “erupted” water like a boil! We think it was water that had been forced under the bungalow and drained down into the lowest point.
The whole thing, the rain, the hail, the force of water and the damage it did, happened so quickly. It was very scary.