HAIL AND HIGH WATER
Torrential rain and a freak hail storm battered parts of East Devon, resulting in complete chaos for many villages and towns deluged with flood waters.
Worst affected areas included Ottery St Mary, Feniton and Tipton St John.
There was also flooding in coastal areas including Budleigh Salterton and Newton Poppleford.
But tales of drama, heroism and Devon fortitude emerged from the disaster that struck without warning.
More than two dozen residents had to be rescued from their homes after water filled their properties, while others became trapped in their vehicles.
The roads around Ottery St Mary were closed until floodwaters subsided yesterday afternoon.
Firefighters, police and the coastguard were all involved in the rescue mission in the early hours of yesterday.
Devon Fire Control received hundreds of calls from people affected by the floods, including the elderly, disabled and families with young children.
Scores of people took refuge in emergency rescue centres set up at Ottery St Mary Hospital and Feniton Sports and Social Club, where the British Red Cross helped to look after those evacuated from their homes.
East Devon District Council also set up an emergency rest centre at The King's School, for those stranded in the town.
Workers from East Devon Council and medical staff were drafted in to help those in need.
One of those helping at the emergency rest centre was 55-year-old Adolf Villmeter, who had battled though floods in his home village of Whimple to get to The King's School, where he is a caretaker.
"I've never experienced anything like this in my life before — not even in my homeland of Germany. We just want to be here to help people stranded by this incredible event."
Witnesses to the drama say cars abandoned by their owners were carried down the street like "bits of paper", while other vehicles were barely visible under a blanket of hailstones.
Several vehicles became trapped in flood water, including a 38ft long lorry.
Firefighters used a JCB digger to rescue seven people who had become stranded in waist-deep water in their vehicle at Ottery St Mary.
An elderly couple who became stuck on the roof of their car as flood waters rose around them were also rescued.
Firefighters used inflatable walkways to help another elderly couple from their car at Lease Hill, Hele, near Exeter.
Farmers Simon and Nikki Knight, of Lower Cotley Farm, Fluxton, near Tipton St John, had to use a canoe to access two of his cows and their calves after they became stranded in water-logged fields.
Mrs Knight, 51, said: "Simon and our son Luke had to use a canoe to get to the cows. They were stuck on a mound in the middle of the field. We were worried they would exhaust themselves and fall into the water."
Residents in Feniton described the village as "unpassable" and said many were unable to leave their houses due to the river of floodwater running past their homes.
There were also several landslides in the area.
Julia Bath, of Feniton, said: "It has been horrendous. There was around two to three feet of water running through the village. "We know of people who have had to be rescued from the lofts of their bungalows," she said.
Many have described the freak hail storm and thunder and lighting which struck the area as "terrifying".
Michelle Teissier, landlady of the Golden Lion pub, in Tipton St John, said: "The storm was incredible, I've never seen anything like it. Our whole building was shaking — it was very scary."
Tipton Garage, in Tipton St John, was flooded with three feet of muddy water.
Owner Richard Miles moved several cars off the garage's forecourt in the early hours of yesterday in a bid to save them from the rising floodwaters.
Drifts of hail and ice built up to four feet deep at some places.
And amid the chaos, residents fought to save their possessions — and, in some cases, their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
Nolwenn Luke, of Furze Brook, Ottery St Mary, was woken in the early hours of yesterday to discover her two cars had been carried 20 metres down her street by the torrential rainfall.
The force of the floodwater had pushed her Citroen onto the top of her neighbour Beth Ashfield's Audi.
Both Ms Luke's Citroen and Peugeot were covered in mud and her drive wall was knocked down by the rising rainwater behind it.
Ms Luke said: "My neighbour rang me at 1.30am to say that she had just seen my Citroen being carried past their living room window. It travelled around 20 metres down the lane before it was pushed through my neighbour's driveway onto their Audi."
Mary and John Nancekivell were cleaning up their home, Island Farm, where the ground floor was under some 18 inches of dirty water.
Mrs Nancekivell said: "It all happened so very quickly and I couldn't believe it when I looked out the window and saw the snow building up. It was about four feet deep.
"We tried to get what we could above the flood water and we called in our son Robert who came round with a tractor. He took a number of people to hospital up the road on the tractor.
"I don't know where they had come from but I think some had hypothermia. John then had to go out with his tractor and help pull free a fire engine caught in the snow drift.
"It was a busy night. We will just have to get on and clean up.
"Most of the floors here are concrete but the front room has a wooden floor and that looks ruined."
Further up the road, Dave Clark and his team at Riverside Motors were trying to clean up the flood damage that had filled their inspection pit and left several cars written off.
Mr Clark said: "It was just impossible to stop. The water rose very quickly and three or four of the cars we have here were filled with water.
"I think they are write-offs, given the water and dirt that have got into the engines and electrics."
Nearer the town, at Bridge House, Lindsay Buckingham, 26, was putting on a brave face, despite four inches of water running through her detached home, Bridge House.
She said: "I heard all the storms and checked downstairs at midnight and it was all dry except for a small leak in the roof. Then I came down in the morning and the water was everywhere. We have just had new carpets in and they're ruined."
Across the bridge in Victoria Terrace, half the residents had been flooded out while the other half, just a few feet higher, escaped the worst.
Those safe and dry immediately offered help to those less fortunate.
Among those hit hardest was Susan Smith and her 17-year-old daughter Rhianne.
Mrs Smith said: "I don't know what we are going to do. We are not insured and we have lost so much.
"The storm was tremendous and when I looked out the window I could see the water was almost topping the wall across the road into the old Switchgear works.
"We tried to move what we could out of the water, which covered the whole first floor. We got most of the electrics to safety but it was just impossible to move the furniture.
"We were able to go to a neighbour's but then they were flooded too so we had to move further up the terrace to find warmth and safety."
They found that at the home of Tina Paddon. She said: "The water rose to the second step outside the house so we were lucky. The road was just a river. We were happy to be able to help our neighbours," she said.
"We must have had about five or six in all night. It was a case of lots of tea and no sleep.
"We are all feeling pretty shattered now but this is when the clean-up starts."
In the town, baker Kevin Wood was sweeping floodwater out of the ground floor of his Millstone Bakery.
He said: "I knew things were going to be quite bad so I came into work before 3am and got the ovens going to make enough bread for the entire town.
"With the roads all closed there will be no deliveries into the town today so I thought I had better do my job. The ovens are on a higher level so they were fine.
"Times like this show you just why you should support your local bakery!"
Nearby, Toby Caines had a wide brush to hand clean water from The Gallery, which he opened earlier this year.
He said: "It is pretty bad but the gallery itself is on two levels and only the lower level is badly hit.
"I will have to wait and see just what the damage is. It's not good but it will be business as usual."
In the centre of the town, many shops remained closed but at Antiques and Collectibles, owner Emma Ibbeson was hard at work trying to dry out her shop carpet.
She said: "I managed to get a flood barrier in front of the door and water came up to just below the top so it was not too bad.
"The entire road was awash and now the water has gone down it is thick with horrible mud — but we were lucky."
Estate agent Nick Hall, 49, fell neck-deep into a hidden stream as he crossed a car park on his way to work and had to be helped by passers-by.
He said: "It's dreadful — it's absolutely terrible. There was about three-to-four feet of hail, up to the roof of cars.
"I've never ever seen it anywhere in my life like that at all. It was all compact, not like snow at all. I walked across the car park. There was a hidden stream. I was worried. I went from six inches of water to up to my neck."
Mr Hall said he had to get into work as he has rental properties that needed to be evacuated because of flooding damage.
"We have a lot of flooded properties. We have a big amount of rental properties.
"People can't live in their properties. We are now arranging bed and breakfast accommodation for people.
"We have clients whose conservatory roofs have buckled underneath the weight of hail."
Workers from East Devon District Council spoke of their experiences at the King's School rest centre.
Darren Hicks, 38, from Newton Poppleford, Joyce Murphy, 55, from Exmouth and Zoe Cozens, 38, from Honiton, said they only managed to get into Ottery thanks to Joyce's 4X4.
"I know there have been floods in Ottery in the past," said Zoe, "But nothing like this."
Joyce added: "I'm a Yorkshire woman, so I'm used to this kind of thing. The emergency services up there are used to it.
"You can't blame anyone for this, it's not a normal situation. It's just the weather. It's just a freaky one off."
Among the locals out first thing yesterday morning were Richard and Debbie Glanfield, of Claremont Field, and their daughter Katie, 13.
"At 11.45pm, there was thunder and sheet lightning," said Richard.
"There was flash after flash and then the hail started and it seemed to go on for hours.
"At one stage there seemed to be an explosion. It was weird — it was like being in a different world."
Jan Krasinski, 54, from Slade Close, was also among those exploring the streets in the aftermath.
He said: "The last time it was as bad as this was back in the 1960s. I heard the rain, but nobody expected anything like this.
Nick Edmunds, of Country Farm Butchers, in the centre of Ottery St Mary, travelled from Honiton to get to work, but despite the floods managed to be there by 7am.
Margaret Baregmann was out taking photographs of the roads devastated by the flooding. She said: "It's ironic. We were expecting a friend from Boscastle for lunch, but I don't think that's going to happen now," she said.
Nick Edmunds, of Country Farm Butchers, in the centre of Ottery St Mary, travelled from Honiton to get to work, but despite the floods managed to be there by 7am.
"This has been disastrous for the town," he said. "The Pine Shop has been flooded and the London Inn's flooded, the newsagents and the chemists. It's just not doing anyone any good. I'm not expecting many customers, but I'm here and I'm open just in case."
The roads around Ottery St Mary were just as badly affected. In Gosford Lane at Fairmile, the roads were turned into quagmires, with tractors being the only vehicles getting through with any kind of ease.
Emma Slee, 29, a journalist of Windrush Rise, Ottery St Mary, said: "The view outside my house this morning was unbelievable – like a scene from Narnia, snow everywhere. I tried three routes to get out of Ottery and all were blocked off either by deep flood water or car crashes. I decided to head out Seaton way, to be told by a man wearing waterproofs and a hard hat that the A30 was closed – blocking my journey to work in Yeovil.
"I managed to drive over rocks and rubble and what resembled a river and tried to get around the closure via Seaton and Axminster. On three occasions I had to turn around because of more floods. There was a Jag on the verge near one flooded road, it looked like someone had unsuccessfully tried to negotiate the water. I ended up driving around East Devon for an hour before finding a passable route.
"I just hope the carnival and tar barrels isn't ruined by this."
Sally Slade, director of health and social care delivery, said stranded residents began turning up at Ottery St Mary Hospital in need of refuge in the early hours of yesterday. "The staff were very responsive and opened a day room for people to come and take refuge in," she said.
"More people arrived in the early hours and during the day, as they had nowhere else to go."
Ms Slade said the extreme weather had placed additional pressures on district nurses and community workers.
"We are working very closely with social services and the primary care services," she said.
"The ability of community nurses and social workers to get around and see vulnerable people has been difficult because of the weather, but a lot of them have been going around on foot."
The London Inn was also flooded in Ottery St Mary meaning staff had to bail out the cellar.
One of the owners, Mavis Bennett, said: "The water was just coming straight through and coming in as fast as we could get rid of it."
In Newton Poppleford pensioner Raymond Savage had to be rescued by the fire service when he became trapped in his house.
He called for help from a top-floor window and a 4x4 vehicle was able to get to the house to pick him up.
He said: "I looked outside and the water was high up on the glass door. If I had opened the doors I would have been swamped."
Anne White, from West Hill, became trapped in her house as floodwaters rose. She was also rescued by the emergency services.
She said: "I could just not get out and the water rose so quickly."
There was also a lucky escape for Rosie, Marmalade, Pumpkin, Elena and Treacle, Otterton residents who are lucky to be alive.
The five hens were rescued a week ago from a battery farm and had just moved into a specially-renovated hen house within an enclosure at Otterton Mill.
But they had to be rescued again yesterday by five officers from the RSPCA when their enclosure was swept away when the River Otter flooded.
Caroline Spiller, who owns the Mill with her husband Simon, said: "The hens were very lucky. The Mill has suffered a lot of damage, with water getting into all the buildings. We had just gone on holiday and were called back. We don't know when we will be able to open again.
"Villagers have said that this is the worst flooding for 30 years."
Churchwarden David Lanning was just one of those counting the cost of the clean-up operation last night.
Mr Lanning looks after the medieval St Andrew's Church in Feniton Old Village, which was under two feet of water on Thursday morning.
Mr Lanning was unaware of the damage until he looked out of his window and saw pews floating around in the churchyard.
A fire crew from Honiton spent much of the day pumping out the area.
"The drains just couldn't cope with the weight of the water," Mr Lanning said, "About 30 villagers helped me salvage valuables from the church and clean up.
"It's a 13th Century building with stone and wood floors, now covered in mud and silt. The basement is also under water. An insurance assessor is now due to come and have a look at the damage."
Flood warnings were last night issued for three local rivers and are likely to remain in place today.
The river Clyst, between Broadclyst and Clyst St Mary, the Culm, near Stoke Canon, and the Otter between Fenny Bridges and Budleigh Salterton, were all said to be at risk of breaking their banks.
The Environment Agency, responsible for issuing flood warnings, is also worried about the lower Axe, between Axmouth and Axminster, and the upper Axe, up to Axminster.
The agency is now responsible for clearing debris from rivers and streams while East Devon District Council is charged with clearing up the streets of Ottery St Mary.
Supt Tony Comerford, of Devon and Cornwall Police, also issued the following guidance:
Police will be in Ottery throughout the night to reassure the public as the town returns to normal
There is a frost expected tonight
There is lots of mud and debris on the road. Gritters will be out in some areas but the roads will still be treacherous
People in the area should not drive unless absolutely necessary
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