UK News 17-08-2004 Village Smashed By Ten Foot Waves who: RAF what: Airlift 100 people to safety as ten-foot wall of water devastates Cornish village where: BOSCASTLE when: Yesterday snippet: "Until yesterday afternoon, Boscastle was best known for its Elizabethan harbour, clifftop walks and romantic links with Thomas Hardy," says today`s Guardian. "Then the rains came." And what rains they were: a three-metre "wall of water" surged down through the village of Boscastle, stranding hundreds and sweeping away cars, trees and anything else in its path. "Burst riverbanks brought down the bridge in the village and left buildings submerged after 5cm (2in) of rain combined with the rising tide to produce the freak conditions," adds another Guardian report, while Jude Rees, a tourist, tells The Times: "We were down in the village in a café when there was a large bang. All of a sudden the river started flooding in a matter of seconds," he said. "Ten minutes earlier we had been looking at a bridge but it was ripped from the river bank and just flowing into the sea." As darkness fell last night, reporters from The Sun watched as RAF and Navy helicopters "worked in relays as part of a massive rescue operation to winch families to safety from roofs and upstairs windows." An RAF spokesman said: We are picking people out of trees, we are picking them off the river bank and taking them out of cars." As the resue operation continues, three people are currently unaccounted for, says BBC News Online, but RAF spokesman Michael Mulford says it`s difficult to keep track of people. "A lot of them managed to get away to high ground in the early stages, but we have to consider the possibility that we may have many hundreds, up to a theoretical 1,000 people, who may need rescuing," he said. [... more]

What The Papers Say is delivered to thousands of readers every morning by web, WAP and email. Sign up today!